Son Heung-min beat Lionel Messi and was selected as the U.S. Major League Soccer (MLS) Player of the Year by Transfer Markt. Germany's Transfer Markt announced on the 18th (Korea time) "Son Heung-min beat Lionel Messi with the MLS Transfer Markt Player of the Year award" This is a surprising result.

Messi becomes the sixth player in MLS history to win MVP and a championship in the same season. Of the previous five, only Atlanta United's Josef Martinez in 2018 won MVP, a title and the Golden Boot as the league's scoring champion all in the same year, another hat trick of sorts that Messi achieved in 2025.

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Lionel Messi has been named the 2025 MLS MVP, the league announced on Dec. 9. He led MLS with 48 goal contributions for title-winning Inter Miami.

Messi bagged two assists to claim the 47th trophy of his glittering career, earning his first MLS Cup title win as Miami ran out 3–1 winners against the Whitecaps, who were also beaten in the Concacaf Champions Cup final earlier this year.

MLS claims 3.6 million people watched on Apple TV and MLS Season Pass, as well as in Canada on TSN and RDS, as well as other international linear partners, including TNT and HBO Max in Mexico. That would mean north of 3.3 million viewers watched MLS Cup on Apple TV and other international linear partners.

Messi joined Inter Miami in the summer of 2023 and immediately helped the club claimed its first-ever trophy in the cross-border Leagues Cup. In 2024, Messi won his first league MVP award and led Miami to the Supporter’s Shield (best regular season record), but the team was upset in the first round of the playoffs.

The accolades keep rolling in for Lionel Messi, who has won his second straight MLS MVP award after leading Inter Miami to the 2025 MLS Cup.

This week, Inter Miami delivered a decision on Luis Suarez’s future that strengthens not only its sporting future but also the emotional core of the project, offering a major boost to Messi as the club prepares for a pivotal 2026 season.

Inter Miami have won the club’s first MLS Cup, beating the Vancouver Whitecaps 3-1 on Saturday at Chase Stadium, with the winner coming on a Rodrigo De Paul goal in the 71st minute.

Jay Shah presented a ticket to the 2026 T20 World Cup to Lionel Messi in Delhi while also giving him, as well as Luis Suarez and Rodrigo de Paul, special gifts from the cricket community.