Lionel Messi has officially won his first MLS Golden Boot, finishing the 2025 season as Major League Soccer’s top scorer with 29 goals for Inter Miami CF.
The Inter
Miami superstar outpaced top contenders Sam Surridge of Nashville SC and Denis Bouanga of LAFC, who each ended the season with 24 goals. Messi’s dominant scoring run comes in just his second year in the league and marks a major milestone for both the Argentine legend and Inter Miami.
First Golden Boot, More History for Messi
This is Messi’s first MLS Golden Boot and a redemption arc after narrowly losing last season’s award to D.C. United’s Christian Benteke by just three goals. Now, he becomes the first Inter Miami player to win the prestigious honor and only the second Argentine in MLS history to take the title, joining Valentín “Taty” Castellanos, who netted 19 goals in 2021 with New York City FC.
Messi’s 2025 MLS Season by the Numbers
Messi’s 29-goal tally is among the most prolific in MLS history, trailing only Josef Martínez’s 31 goals in 2018 and Carlos Vela’s record-setting 34 in 2019. His scoring rate of 1.03 goals per game is second-best in league history, just behind Vela’s 1.10 goals per game in 2019.
In addition, Messi set a new MLS record with 28 non-penalty goals in a single season — smashing the previous mark by three.
Breaking Records on Decision Day
Messi saved one of his biggest performances for last, scoring a hat trick on Decision Day to secure the Golden Boot. It was his first hat trick of the season and capped off another milestone: Messi is now the first player in MLS history to record 10 multi-goal games in a single season. That breaks the long-standing record of 8 shared by Stern John (1998), Mamadou Diallo (2000), and Zlatan Ibrahimović (2019).
Total Goal Contributions: Second Only to Vela
With 48 total goal contributions (29 goals and 19 assists), Messi delivered one of the most complete seasons MLS has ever seen. His combined goals and assists total is second only to Carlos Vela’s 49 (34 goals, 15 assists) in 2019.
Messi also joins elite company as just the second player in league history to lead MLS in both goals and assists — the first being Sebastian Giovinco in 2015 (22 goals, 15 assists).
Messi’s MLS Success Ranks Among His Best
Messi’s 29 goals this season rank 10th all-time in his career for league play — a remarkable feat given his legendary record with Barcelona, where he scored a career-high 50 league goals in the 2011-12 La Liga season.
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