Lionel Messi trumps Kylian Mbappe and six others to win World Cup Player of the Tournament in Readers' Awards

Argentina star Lionel Messi has fended off competition from Kylian Mbappe and six other rivals to win the World Cup 2026 Player of the Tournament prize in Sports Mole's Readers' Awards.

Despite suffering heartbreak in the final against Spain, the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner remarkably inspired his nation's run to the final at the age of 39, making him the 12th-oldest player at the tournament.

Messi scored eight goals to finish second in the Golden Boot race behind Kylian Mbappe, while also coming up with four assists, only behind record-breaking Michael Olise in that category.

Prior to the final, Messi had also scored or assisted in an extraordinary nine World Cup knockout games in a row, the longest such run since data collection became available in 1966.

The attacker's feats have been recognised by our audience, as he claimed a 57% share in the Player of the Tournament vote in our Readers' Awards, comfortably ahead of second-placed Jude Bellingham (17%) and Mbappe (15%).

Meanwhile, Erling Haaland and Lamine Yamal both earned a 4% share, while Pedro Porro (2%), Harry Kane (1%) and Ousmane Dembele (0%) made up the bottom three.

Messi will be approaching his 43rd birthday by the time the 2030 World Cup rolls around, but the legendary Argentine is yet to officially rule himself out of the tournament.