The Golden Foot: The award so tough to win that Lionel Messi still hasn’t won
Over the years, Lionel Messi has won pretty much everything he possibly could in football. From the World Cup to league titles to countless Ballon d’Ors, there are few accolades and awards that he hasn’t managed to get his hands on. There is one certain award, though, that even the great Argentine hasn’t quite picked up just yet.
That’s right, despite having one of the greatest careers of all time, there is one accolade that he hasn’t realised just yet and as he gets older, he could very well run out of time. What award is it, though? Won by some of football’s biggest stars, Messi has never won the Golden Foot, an award created in the early 2000s.
Not that familiar with it? Don’t worry, we’re about to tell you everything you need to know about the Golden Foot and why it’s quite shocking that Messi has never actually won it during his career.
The Golden Foot Celebrates Older Footballers
It can only be awarded to footballers over the age of 28
There has been a lot of focus over the years on the younger talents within football, such as the prestigious Kopa Trophy. Awards aimed at the young prospects showing plenty of promise have become a common sight pretty much all over the world. There has been a large focus on the next generation and just how impressive they are at a young age.
There isn’t enough talk about the older heads, though, or appreciation for how certain footballers continue competing at a very high level, well into the twilight of their careers. Well, that’s what you’d think, but it turns out, there is actually an award specifically catered to those veterans.
The Golden Foot is an award that was created in 2003 and was launched to recognise the impressive older figures in football who are still performing at a high level later in their careers. Only footballers over the age of 28 are eligible for the award, with the majority of winners actually being stars in their 30s.
The List of Names to Win the Award
Some of football’s biggest names have won it
One of the best ways to judge how prestigious an award is to look at the figures to have won it since its creation and the Golden Foot has a real who’s who of former winners, with some of the biggest names in football taking it home at one point or another. The very first man to win the award was Roberto Baggio in 2003. The Italian was 36 years old at the time but was coming off a season where he scored 12 goals for Brescia in Serie A. He perfectly represented the type of recognition that the award aimed to give and the certain figure that would be highlighted from it.
From there, names like Pavel Nedved, Ronaldinho, Ryan Giggs, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Cristiano Ronaldo and, most recently, Robert Lewandowski won the award. Interestingly, no Englishman has ever won the award, but two Premier League stars have with Giggs picking it up in 2011, while Mohamed Salah won it in 2021.
Juventus have the most winners, with four of the Old Lady’s stars doing so during their time with the Italian club. Nedved, Alessandro Del Piero, Gianluigi Buffon and Ronaldo all received the award as Juventus players. Buffon is actually the oldest-ever winner, with the goalkeeping legend being 38 years old when he did so. Take a look at the complete list of winners below. It’s quite a star-studded list, but you might notice there have been no repeat recipients.
