Lionel Messi has emerged as the clear frontrunner for a possible Super Ballon d’Or if France Football brings the prize back in 2027. The rare award, meant to honor the finest footballer of the modern era, has been handed out only once before.
That is why the report has drawn attention now. Leo Paradizo of Argentina said Messi has pulled ahead in the conversation, and the scale of his record explains why: he is an eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, with victories in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021 and 2023. He also won four UEFA Champions League titles with Barcelona, lifted the 2022 FIFA World Cup with Argentina and added back-to-back Copa America titles.
The Super Ballon d’Or carries unusual weight because France Football presented it only once, on December 24, 1989, to mark its 30th anniversary. Alfredo Di Stefano won that trophy, with Johan Cruyff second and Michel Platini third. At the time, non-European players were not eligible, which meant Pelé and Diego Maradona were excluded from consideration.
That history matters because any new vote would not simply compare careers in the usual way. It would have to decide whether the award is reserved for an extraordinary modern-era standard and, if so, how to weigh era, trophies and longevity against a field that has only ever produced one winner. France Football has not formally announced a plan, which leaves the 2027 revival in the category of serious talk, not settled fact.
For Messi, the logic of the debate is obvious. He already sits alone among the game’s most decorated individual winners, and if France Football does reopen the door, the question will not be whether he belongs in the conversation. It will be whether anyone else can reach him.
