Lionel Messi wins the prestigious Princess of Asturias Award for Sports 2026

Messi has been awarded the 2026 Princess of Asturias Award for Sports. This was decided by the jury, chaired by Teresa Perales, which met for two days in Oviedo to choose the winner from among the 27 nominations, from 12 nationalities, submitted.

The Paralympic swimmer announced the choice of Messi because, "in addition to his dazzling talent, his exceptional sporting career and his formidable and ongoing charitable work to promote access to education and healthcare for the most disadvantaged children".

The Argentine has become, in his own right, one of the greats of world football. His sporting merits are unquestionable. He is the footballer with the most titles to his name, as noted in the jury’s decision.. He has won 47 trophies in his 23 seasons as a professional. "He has also earned everyone’s respect and admiration for his exemplary behavior on the field and for his perseverance, humility, and commitment to the collective game," Teresa Perales emphasized as she read the jury’s decision.

Messi has earned everyone's respect and admiration for his exemplary behavior on the field and for his consistency, humility, and commitment to team play

Teresa Perales, al leer el fallo del jurado del Premio Princesa de Asturias de los Deportes 2026

At the domestic level, with FC Barcelona he won 10 La Liga titles, seven Copa del Rey trophies and eight Spanish Super Cups; with Paris Saint-Germain he added two Ligue 1 titles plus one French Super Cup; and wearing the colors of Inter Miami he has won three honors: the Leagues Cup (this one is international), the MLS Supporters' Shield (the MLS regular season, which in the United States is a historic title), and this MLS Cup, that is, the outright league title.

In the international arena, Messi lifted four Champions League titles, three Club World Cups and three UEFA Super Cups, all of them with Barça. With the Argentina national team he won a World Cup, two Copa Américas, one Finalissima, one Under-20 World Cup and an Olympic gold medal in Beijing 2008.

The "10" has never stopped adding individual awards throughout his career: eight Ballon d'Or awards, eight "Pichichi" trophies, nine LaLiga "MVPs", six Golden Boots, six Champions League Top Scorer awards, four Onze d'Or awards, three The Best awards, two Best Player in Europe awards, two World Cup Golden Balls, two Copa América "MVP" awards, two Laureus awards, one FIFA World Player award, one FIFA FIFPro award, one Golden Boy award and one Bravo Trophy. In addition, in 2009 he received the MARCA Leyenda and in 2024 the MARCA América Award.

Messi has also shown his most supportive side through his Foundation, which, since 2007, has sought to ensure that all children have the same opportunities. It promotes access to education and healthcare for the most disadvantaged.

The Argentine succeeds Serena Williams in the list of winners, who received this award a year ago for "her extraordinary sporting career and competitive mindset and for always having been a firm defender of gender equality and equal opportunities between men and women in sport and in society in general".

Messi's candidacy prevailed over the other 27 submitted. For the third consecutive year, the award goes to a woman, following Carolina Marín being honored in 2024 and Serena Williams in 2025. The jury for this year's edition was made up of Teresa Perales (chair); Paloma del Río (secretary); Juan Ignacio Gallardo, director of MARCA; Teresa Bernadas; Joaquín Folch-Rusiñol; José Félix Díaz; Andrea Fuentes; Patricia García; Santiago Nolla; Jennifer Pareja, Alberto Suárez; Joan Vehils and Theresa Zabell.

Among the winners of the Sports award, established in 1987, are Sebastian Coe; the Refugee Olympic Team; the All Blacks; the Gasol brothers (Pau and Marc), Lindsey Vonn, Haile Gebrselassie, Rafa Nadal, Fernando Alonso, Eliud Kipchoge, Carl Lewis, Carlos Sainz, Severiano Ballesteros, among others.

It is the first time that the Princess of Asturias Award for Sports has been granted individually to a footballer, although football had previously paraded through Oviedo's Campoamor Theatre with the Brazil national team (2002), Spain's national team (2010), and Iker Casillas and Xavi Hernández (2012).

Princess of Asturias Award for Sports Honours Roll

1987 Sebastian Coe (Athletics)

1988 Juan Antonio Samaranch (Olympism)

1989 Severiano Ballesteros (Golf)

1990 Sito Pons (Motorcycling)

1991 Sergey Bubka (Athletics)

1992 Miguel Induráin (Cycling)

1993 Javier Sotomayor (Athletics)

1994 Martina Navratilova (Tennis)

1995 Hassiba Boulmerka (Athletics)

1996 Carl Lewis (Athletics)

1997 Spanish marathon team (Athletics)

1998 Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario (Tennis)

1999 Steffi Graf (Tennis)

2000 Lance Armstrong (Cycling)

2001 Manel Estiarte (Water polo)

2002 Brazil national football team (Football)

2003 Tour de France (Cycling)

2004 Hicham El Guerrouj (Athletics)

2005 Fernando Alonso (Motor Racing)

2006 Spain national basketball team (Basketball)

2007 Michael Schumacher (Motorsport)

2008 Rafael Nadal (Tennis)

2009 Yelena Isinbayeva (Athletics)

2010 Spain national football team (Football)

2011 Haile Gebrselassie (Athletics)

2012 Iker Casillas/Xavi Hernández (Football)

2013 José María Olazábal (Golf)

2014 New York Marathon (Athletics)

2015 Pau Gasol / Marc Gasol (Basketball)

2016 Javier Gómez Noya (Triathlon)

2017 New Zealand national rugby union team (Rugby)

2018 Reinhold Messner / Krzysztof Wielicki (Mountaineering)

2019 Lindsey Vonn (Skiing)

2020 Carlos Sainz (Rallies)

"2021 Teresa Perales (Paralympic swimming)

2022 Foundation and Refugee Olympic Team (Olympism)

2023 Eliud Kipchoge (Athletics)

2024 Carolina Marín (Badminton)

2025 Serena Williams (Tennis)

2026 Messi (Football)

The Sports award is the sixth of the eight prizes called annually by the Princess of Asturias Foundation to be decided, after the Arts award was granted to the American singer and writer Patti Smith, the Communication and Humanities award to the Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli; the Scientific and Technical Research award to British chemists David Klenerman and Shankar Balasubramanian and French biophysicist Pascal Mayer; the International Cooperation award to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, and the Social Sciences award to the British historian, journalist and essayist Timothy Garton Ash.

Like the rest of the awards, the prize consists of a reproduction of a sculpture by Joan Miró—the representative symbol of the award—, the cash amount of 50,000 euros, a diploma, and a badge.

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