​Germany’s Lothar Matthäus has expressed enthusiasm about Lionel Messi’s World Cup performances but remains skeptical about the Argentina star being a genuine contender for world player of the year honors. Matthäus, who is 39 and currently features for Inter Miami in Major League Soccer rather than a premier European club, argues that Messi should not be voted FIFA’s Best or win the Ballon d’Or even if he helps Argentina claim another World Cup title.
In comments published by Bild on Saturday, the 1990 World Cup winner contends that the level of competition in Messi’s league does not compare to the European powerhouses. “The league Messi plays in is nowhere near the quality of where Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé, or Erling Haaland compete. They play in the top leagues in Europe,” Matthäus said. He added that the world player of the year should demonstrate excellence across the entire year, not just in a single tournament. “Messi has impressed at Miami, but the American league is still, let’s say, not among the top 10 or top 15 in the world,” he observed.
Matthäus also highlighted the gap between Messi’s performances and those of his European rivals in major continental competitions. “Haaland and Kane have shown different levels of performances in the Champions League compared to Lionel Messi,” he noted, underscoring the broader context in which annual awards are decided. Messi, who has already claimed the world player of the year title eight times during his storied career, including after Argentina’s triumph at the 2022 World Cup, remains a perennial figure in discussions about the sport’s best.
As Messi’s team prepares to face Switzerland in the 2026 World Cup quarter-finals in Kansas City on Saturday, Matthäus’s stance adds another layer to the ongoing debate about how to weigh domestic league strength, international tournament success, and overall yearly performance when naming football’s world player of the year. The conversation mirrors broader questions about the criteria for the Ballon d’Or and FIFA’s Best awards, which often take into account consistency, impact across competitions, and the caliber of teams faced over the course of a full season.