Messi accepted the honor at the opening ceremony of his Messi Cup youth tournament, highlighting his desire to involve young players in the announcement. “I couldn’t have won this without my teammates,” Messi said, expressing gratitude for the support around him.
MLS Commissioner Don Garber praised Messi as a “unicorn,” lauding both his on-field brilliance and his character off it. “He’s just a special man,” Garber said.
The award was widely anticipated after Messi finished the regular season with a league-best 29 goals and 19 assists. He received 70.4% of the total vote, the largest margin since Toronto’s Sebastian Giovinco in 2015. San Diego’s Anders Dreyer finished second with 11.2%, followed by LAFC’s Denis Bouanga, Cincinnati’s Evander, and Nashville’s Sam Surridge.
“He was fantastic the whole season, with the numbers and also with the commitment,” said Inter Miami coach and former teammate Javier Mascherano.
Despite playing in only half of Inter Miami’s regular-season matches in 2024, Messi’s dominance left no doubt about his MVP credentials this year. He joins Preki as the only two-time MVP in MLS history, with no other player ever achieving back-to-back wins.
Messi also became the sixth MLS player to win both MVP and a championship in the same season, adding the Golden Boot to complete a rare treble of individual and team honors. Josef Martinez, Atlanta United’s 2018 star, is the only other player to have achieved this trifecta.
David Beckham, co-owner of Inter Miami, praised Messi’s impact both on and off the field. “There’s no player that has probably won what he has won and done it the way he’s done it. Everyone in Miami, MLS, and this country has seen what he’s done for the league and the city,” Beckham said.
Messi has signed a three-year extension with Inter Miami, ensuring he will remain a central figure for the club as it opens its new stadium near Miami International Airport next season.
His achievement places him in rare company across U.S. professional sports. Back-to-back MVPs have occurred in MLB (Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge), WNBA (A’ja Wilson), NBA (Nikola Jokic), NFL (Aaron Rodgers), and NHL (Alex Ovechkin), but never before in MLS.
MLS Commissioner Garber and Beckham agree: Messi continues to raise the league’s profile and set a new standard for excellence. “Great players always believe that they can win more and raise the level,” Beckham said. “And that’s what Leo’s doing.”