Messi eyes Golden Boot, Golden Ball and Ballon d'Or treble ahead of World Cup final

Lionel Messi, the driving force behind Argentina's run to the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, is on course to claim a treble of individual honors — the Golden Boot, the Golden Ball and the Ballon d'Or.

Argentina face Spain in the 2026 North and Central America World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in New York/New Jersey on Monday.

Heading into the final, Messi sits second in the tournament's attacking-points standings with eight goals and four assists for 12 points. France's Kylian Mbappé leads with 10 goals and four assists.

If Messi scores two or more goals in the final, he will claim the Golden Boot — awarded to the tournament's top scorer — for the first time. When players are tied on goals, assists serve as the tiebreaker; if that is also level, the player with fewer minutes played wins.

Spain's leading scorer, Mikel Oyarzabal, has five goals and one assist — four goals behind Mbappé — leaving the Golden Boot race as a straight contest between the two. Mbappé has played 769 minutes in the tournament to Messi's 712. Should Messi play the full 90 minutes of the final, he would surpass Mbappé's total playing time.

Messi is also a strong favorite for the Golden Ball, given to the tournament's best player. He has been the central figure in Argentina's march to the final — particularly in the semifinal against England, where his incisive passing set up both an equalizer and a 2-1 winner in the last 10 minutes of the second half.

Even if Argentina lose the final to Spain and finish as runners-up, the prevailing view is that Messi's Golden Ball is all but certain. No Spain player has come close to matching his impact on the tournament.

The Golden Ball has never been tied to winning the championship — of the 11 times the award has been presented, players from non-champion sides have won it seven times. Messi previously won the Golden Ball at the 2014 Brazil World Cup and the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

Messi is also widely expected to be named the winner at the Ballon d'Or ceremony on Oct. 26. Historically, the award has gone to players competing in Europe, and that pattern held even after the restriction limiting eligibility to European league players was lifted in 2007.

The sole exception was in 2023, when Messi won the award as a member of Inter Miami in the United States. However, the evaluation period for that award covered the 2022-2023 season, during which Messi was still playing for Paris Saint-Germain in France.

On July 5, the Ballon d'Or said on its website that Messi, an eight-time winner, "became the first male player to win the Ballon d'Or while playing for a club outside Europe," adding: "Winning the Ballon d'Or without playing in a European club is entirely possible. It only seems more difficult historically, but the growth of non-European leagues is changing the landscape."