Messi was nominated for the IFFHS Playmaker of the Year! He already has 5, first in history!

October 31st. The famous organization IFFHS (International Federation of Football History and Statistics) recently announced the list of candidates for the 2025 Best Playmaker of the Year, led by Messi. There are 15 players in total, including 12 players from the five major leagues, including Yamal, Bellingham, B Fee, Palmer, Wirtz, Pedri, De Bruyne, Vitinha, etc. In addition to Messi in the non-five major leagues, there are also Celtics standard-bearer Li Yang and James Ronaldo who cannot renew his contract with Leon.

Bellingham is the defending champion, Ronaldo is the only candidate who has not been renewed by the club, and Messi is the first person in the history of this glory. This award is decided by votes from judges from 120 countries around the world. Starting in 2006, the first award was Zidane. Xavi won the award for four consecutive years from 2008 to 2011, and Iniesta won the next two years. Messi won the award for three consecutive years from 2015 to 2017, and then also won the award in 2019 and 2022. There are five in total, the first in history. De Bruyne 3. Kaka, Modric, Kroos, and Bellingham are all 1. The IFFHS first began organizing voting for the annual best awards in 1987.

Messi’s versatility lies in the fact that he has almost redefined the boundaries of his role on the field. He is a rare presence in the history of football who can reach the peak of the two ultimate indicators of goals and assists at the same time. What's even more amazing is that even in the MLS, which is usually regarded as the end of his career, the 38-year-old ball king can still score 29 goals in a single season and win the Golden Boot. This fully proves that his instinct as a scorer has not faded with age. This ability to seamlessly switch between the two roles of shooter and playmaker forms the cornerstone of his title as the "most versatile player in history".

What is particularly rare is that Messi perfectly explained what it means to "use the evolution of wisdom to compensate for the changes in the body." He himself has admitted that as he grows older, he will lose some speed and explosiveness, but this can be compensated by improving his reading and anticipation of the game. His solution is to moderately withdraw the focus of the game, use more passing and dispatching to dominate the offense, and use increased awareness to balance subtle changes in body functions. As a result, we saw that he played more concisely and efficiently on the court, and his average touches and passing choices per game were more purposeful. This allowed him to still send out fatal passes that tear the defense line at critical moments, or complete one-shot winning shots.