Beckham Backs Messi For Ballon d’Or After Campeones Cup Win

David Beckham said Lionel Messi deserves to be considered for this year’s Ballon d’Or and should win it after the Argentina great scored his 100th goal for Inter Miami in a 2-0 Campeones Cup victory over Cruz Azul on Thursday.

Messi, 39, opened the scoring at Nu Stadium in the 24th minute with a header from a Luis Suarez cross. He later had a goal disallowed for offside, then delivered the corner from which former Real Madrid and Manchester United midfielder Casemiro headed in Miami’s second in the 81st minute.

The win gave Miami their first Campeones Cup, the annual match between the U.S. and Mexican cup winners.

“When you see him do things like this, when you see him have the World Cup that he’s had, there is no one at 39 that’s doing that, and doing it at that level,” said Beckham, Inter Miami co-owner and former England captain. “He deserves to be considered for the Ballon d’Or. In my opinion, he should win it.”

Messi, an eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, is on the 30-player shortlist for the 2026 award. He scored eight goals and registered four assists as Argentina reached the 2026 World Cup final, where they were beaten by Spain.

His career World Cup assist tally stands at 12, including 10 in knockout rounds, and his 21 World Cup goals are second only to Kylian Mbappe’s 22.

The shortlist includes England’s Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice, with Kane the favourite. Spain’s Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres are nominated, along with PSG’s Ousmane Dembele, last year’s winner. PSG have nine nominees, excluding new signing Torres, while Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr and Arsenal’s Gabriel and William Saliba also make the list. The winner will be announced in London on 26 October.

Messi’s milestone came after he announced in August that he was retiring from international football and after saying he was considering his future following the death of his father, Jorge.

“What he has done and continues to do for football is incredible. He remains the best. He proved it at the World Cup and continues to prove it in MLS,” Casemiro said.