- The Golden Foot award celebrates older footballers, recognising their impressive performances in the latter stages of their careers.
- Only footballers over the age of 28 are eligible, with the winner decided by a panel of international journalists who vote for a winner from a list of 10 nominees.
- The list of previous Golden Foot winners includes some of football’s biggest names, such as Roberto Baggio, Ronaldinho, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Cristiano Ronaldo. No English player has won the award.
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.
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 27 are eligible for the award, with the majority of winners actually being stars in their 30s.
The List of Names to Win the Award
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.
| List of Golden Foot Winners | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Team |
| 2003 | Roberto Baggio | Brescia |
| 2004 | Pavel Nedved | Juventus |
| 2005 | Andriy Shevchenko | AC Milan |
| 2006 | Ronaldo | Real Madrid |
| 2007 | Alessandro Del Piero | Juventus |
| 2008 | Roberto Carlos | Fenerbahce |
| 2009 | Ronaldinho | AC Milan |
| 2010 | Francesco Totti | Roma |
| 2011 | Ryan Giggs | Manchester United |
| 2012 | Zlatan Ibrahimovic | Paris Saint-Germain |
| 2013 | Didier Drogba | Galatasaray |
| 2014 | Andres Iniesta | Barcelona |
| 2015 | Samuel Eto’o | Antalyaspor |
| 2016 | Gianluigi Buffon | Juventus |
| 2017 | Iker Casillas | Porto |
| 2018 | Edinson Cavani | Paris Saint-Germain |
| 2019 | Luka Modric | Real Madrid |
| 2020 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Juventus |
| 2021 | Mohamed Salah | Liverpool |
| 2022 | Robert Lewandowski | Barcelona |
The rule allows a variety of stars to win the prize
Over the years, no one has ever won the award more than once and that is down to a rule that was implemented when it was first created back in the early 2000s. There would be no repeat winners with anyone who received the award never being eligible again. This was likely done to allow a variety of stars to pick up the accolade, rather than it being dominated by a select few figures.
It’s hard to imagine stars like Ronaldo and Messi wouldn’t have dominated the award over the last few years if they were able to win it on multiple occasions. Considering how fantastic the former has been for Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League, he’d likely be a shoo-in for it on multiple occasions if he could, but having earned it in 2020 with Juventus, he’ll never win it again.
There are still plenty of incredible players over 28 years old who deserve a chance to win the award, with stars like Kevin De Bruyne, Messi himself and Harry Kane all still performing at an exceptional level.
The Award is Decided by a Panel of Voters
A group of international journalists pick a winner from a list of nominees
To ensure the winner of the Golden Foot is decided as fairly as possible, the result is decided based on a vote between a large group of international journalists. This ensured there was no bias in the decision, with the group all having their own opinions and coming to a collective agreement.
The journalists selected a winner from a list of 10 nominees that were selected earlier in the process. How those players are picked, we’re not quite sure, but they all have to meet the criteria that they’re at least 28 years old, have never won the award and are still currently playing football. As far as a voting process goes, this is about as fair as it gets if you ask us.
The Winner Receives a Very Special Honour
Rather than just being handed your standard trophy, as you’d expect with most other awards, the winner of the Golden Foot is giving something very different. Instead, they get to leave a permanent mould of their footprints on The Champions Promenade, an area on the seafront of Monaco.
It’s a similar tribute to how major movie stars are awarded a spot on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where they receive a star alongside their name that is permanently placed on the ground on Hollywood Boulevard. Of course, the Golden Foot isn’t quite as prestigious as the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but it’s a similar concept.
The special tribute sets the award apart from other accolades all over the world that footballers pick up, which only helps make it feel more important than it otherwise would.
Messi’s Wait For the Prize Goes On
He’s been beaten to the award again this year
The list of footballers to win the Golden Foot is quite an impressive group of stars, but arguably the greatest player to ever step onto a pitch is yet to do so. Messi, who many consider the greatest of all time, has somehow not received the honour yet, despite some incredible performances over the last eight years.
If he is to win the award, though, he’ll have to wait at least another year as the 2024 Golden Foot winner has been announced and it isn’t Messi. In fact, it’s his Argentina teammate Lautaro Martinez who is taking the prize home this time around. The Inter Milan man recently came seventh in the Ballon d’Or and has had a fine 12 months with the Serie A club.
Martinez won the Golden Boot and MVP award in Serie A last year and lifted multiple trophies for both club and country while recording 43 goal contributions in the process. The forward has only recently turned 27, so he’s won the trophy on the very first occasion that he’s eligible.
