OFFICIAL: Messi wins the MLS Golden Boot 2025

Lionel Messi has secured the MLS Golden Boot for the first time in his Inter Miami career.

In the match Inter Miami defeated Nashville 5-2 on the final day of the MLS Supporters' Shield season, Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick, bringing his total goals to 29. This achievement allowed the Argentine superstar to surpass several contenders and become the winner of the MLS Golden Boot 2025.

Not only that, Messi also contributed 19 assists, outpacing his two main rivals Denis Bouanga (LAFC) and Sam Surridge (Nashville SC), who both scored 24 goals. Messi is the first Inter Miami player to earn this honor and the first Argentine to do so since Valentin “Taty” Castellanos won it with New York City FC in 2021.

With such outstanding performance, Messi is on track to become the first player in MLS history to win the Landon Donovan MLS MVP award two years in a row, following his impressive 2024 campaign that helped Inter Miami win the Supporters’ Shield and break numerous points records.

Currently, Inter Miami finished the season 3rd in the Eastern Conference and will face Nashville (6th place) again in the first round of the 2025 MLS Cup playoffs in a Best-of-3 series (where the first team to win two matches advances). The MLS Cup final will take place on December 7th (Vietnam time).

By winning the MLS Golden Boot 2025, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner once again confirms his legendary status and joins the list of top scorers who have earned this distinction since the league’s inaugural season in 1996.

From 1996 to 2004, this award was based on a points system where each goal counted as 2 points and each assist as 1 point, before MLS switched to the current method of counting only goals scored.

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