19 years at the summit: Lionel Messi records historic 16th Ballon d'Or Top 5 finish in 2026
Whilst the main topic of debate after Monday’s Ballon d’Or gala at the London Palladium will centre around Harry Kane winning the prestigious award and Lamine Yamal finishing third, what really makes this list ridiculous is that Lionel Messi is back in the Top 5 of the Ballon d’Or at the age of 39 years and 4 months!
The Blaugrana legend finished fifth in the final vote behind Kane, Kylian Mbappe, Lamine Yamal and Barcelona midfielder Rodri. To put this into context, Messi has finished ahead of Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham and 2025 winner Ousmane Dembele. This means the legendary Argentine has now finished Top 5 of the Ballon d’Or 16 times in his career. It has been nearly two full decades since he first exploded onto the scene at just 20 years old, but the greatest Barcelona shirt wearer of all-time continues to thrive.
A 19 year reign
The first time Messi finished in the Top 5 of the Ballon d’Or was back in December 2007. The young prodigy finished third behind Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo whilst playing for Frank Rijkaard. This was also the year Lamine Yamal, Barcelona’s current No.10 was born.
Since then, generations of footballers have come through, peaked and left the scene, but Messi has remained at the top of the voting. Despite being excluded from the 30-man shortlist in both 2024 and 2025 due to his move to Major League Soccer, he refused to fade and was forced into the Top 5 of the Ballon d’Or.
After scoring 25 goals and providing 15 assists whilst captaining Inter Miami, and having a vintage World Cup where he netted 8 goals and provided 4 assists to take Argentina to another final, Messi finished third oldest player in history to reach the Top 10 of the Ballon d’Or. Only Stanley Matthews (1956) and Gianluigi Buffon (2017) have achieved this feat.
Why 8 Ballon d’Ors don’t tell the whole story
Messi has an incredible success rate after finishing Top 5 of the Ballon d’Or 16 times in his career. He has won the prestigious award a record 8 times (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021, 2023), finished second 5 times (2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017), finished third once (2007) and finished fifth twice (2018, 2026). In 14 of the 16 years, Messi has finished in the final 3.
But as every Culer can tell you, after watching him play week-in-week-out in Catalunya, 8 Golden Balls barely does him justice. In seasons like 2016, 2017 and 2018 Messi would dominate Europe by being top scorer, assist provider, free kick taker and chance creator. But due to Barcelona’s failures in the Champions League, he was punished. As a result, a famous quote rings true:
"If the Ballon d'Or was based on individual performance then we would have had to give Leo the Ballon d'Or 20 times and it would get boring for the world. So there are other criteria."
The only reason Messi did not win the Ballon d’Or during his peak was due to voter fatigue and changing opinions about team awards. However, seeing him finish fifth in the 2026 Ballon d’Or behind Yamal and Rodri was injustice. La Masia are now dominating the world stage, but the king of modern day Barcelona will not relinquish his throne.
