Leaks! Lionel Messi Becomes Ballon D'Or 2023 Winner

Argentine national team player, Lionel Messi. (Photo: Twitter @Argentina)

JAKARTA Argentina National Team (Timnas) star Lionel Messi is said to be winning the eighth Ballon d'Or in his outstanding professional career later this month.

The 2023 Ballon d'Or will be announced at the Theater du Chatelet, Paris, France, Tuesday, October 31 at 01.00 WIB in the morning. Leaks said La Pulga would win the prestigious award.

If he gets the award, the former Barcelona player as well as the winner of the 2022 World Cup will be the first player to play outside Europe's top competition to bring home this award.

The Argentine's eighth trophy extends his record as the recipient of the most awards compared to other players in history. His closest competitor is Cristiano Ronaldo who has five.

Messi and Ronaldo have won a total of 12 Ballon d'Or since 2008 until now. During that period only Luka Modric and Karim Benzema won each of them once.

Modric received this award in 2018 after bringing Croatia to the World Cup final in Russia. Meanwhile, Benzema got it in 2022.

The Daily Mail reported that this year Messi was very favorite after bringing Argentina to lift the 2022 World Cup trophy in Qatar by beating France in the final.

After lifting the prestigious trophy, Messi decided to leave Europe and join David Beckham's Inter Miami in this summer transfer window.

Inter Miami immediately felt the effect after signing the star. They immediately came out as League Cup champions, which is the first trophy in the club's history.

In addition, Messi also took Inter Miami to the US Open final, but lost to Houston Dynamo. In the final match, Messi, who also played for Paris Saint-Germain, did not appear due to injury.