The football magazine France Football presents the Ballon d'Or, sometimes known as the "Golden Ball." It has been given to the male player who has been judged to have done the best throughout the preceding year since 1956. At the age of 22, Lionel Messi won the Ballon d'Or in 2009 by a then-record margin of 240 points, earning him his first prize. The FIFA Ballon d'Or, a combination of the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year award, was eventually won by him in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2015.

The cooperation between the two associations came to an end in 2016, with FIFA returning to its own distinct annual award, now known as The Best FIFA Men's Player, and the Ballon d'Or returning to its old moniker. Lionel Messi took home his sixth Ballon d'Or in 2019. He currently holds the record for the most Ballon d'Or awards ever given to a footballer. Cristiano Ronaldo, who has garnered five such honors, is next in line. Messi also won the FIFA World Player of the Year award in 2009 and the FIFA Men's Player of the Year award in 2019. His total of six awards, including the FIFA Ballon d'Or, makes him the player with the most in history.

For club and country, Lionel Messi has scored 723 goals in his senior career. He is currently ninth on the list of players with the most goals ever scored as of 2019. The most hat-tricks in La Liga history have been scored by Messi, who has 36. With eight, he also shares the record for the most hat-tricks in a single season. Six times, Messi has been crowned the league's best player, and seven times Messi has been named the league's best forward. With 114 goals in the Champions League, Messi is second on the list. But Messi scored 100 goals in the Champions League in 123 games, making him the fastest player to do so.

He is the all-time leading goalscorer with two fewer than Ronaldo, who currently holds the record. Messi is the leader in goals scored in a Champions League match. This is absolutely one of the major accomplishments of Lionel Messi. On March 7, 2012, he defeated Bayer Leverkusen with five goals. The most by any player in the Champions League is Messi's eight hat tricks. The top goal scorer in league games from each top tier of a European national league receives the European Golden Shoe award each season. Lionel Messi holds the record for most European Golden Shoe victories with six. With four victories, Cristiano Ronaldo is second on the list.

Messi's 21-game league scoring streak, during which he scored 33 goals, was broken by an injury in 2013. The world record for this is still standing. Messi scored 60 goals overall and 46 in La Liga during the 2012–2013 season. He scored 41 goals across all competitions the next season, which was a five-season low. The offensive trident of Messi, Luis Suárez, and Neymar was formed in the 2014–2015 campaign. The next year, FC Barcelona completed their second treble, becoming the first team in history to do so. Messi scored 54 goals in the 2016–2017 season and 45 goals the next year.

Barcelona won La Liga in each of the two seasons in which they competed. However, they were ousted in the quarterfinals of the Champions League both times. Messi scored 36 goals during the 2018–19 campaign to help him win his 10th La Liga championship. As a result, he became the first non-Spaniard player to ever win 10 titles in LaLiga. He also holds the record for Barcelona in terms of La Liga titles won. While Barcelona lost in the semifinals of the Champions League, he scored 51 goals across all competitions during the season. In addition, Messi made history this year by being the first player to ever reach double digits in La Liga for 13 straight seasons.

One of the major accomplishments of Lionel Messi is that Lionel Messi won the Golden Ball at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. As a player and captain, Lionel Messi had his finest FIFA World Cup in 2014. Messi contributed four goals to his team's victory in their group during the tournament's group stage. In addition, he won Match of the Match honors in each of Argentina's three victories during the group stage. Lionel Messi received the Golden Ball as the best player in the competition. With four goals and one assist, he was also tied for third place in goals scored. Argentina's Messi scored the first goal in Argentina's 2–1 victory over Nigeria in their last group stage encounter at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He now joins Diego Maradona and Gabriel Batistuta as the only Argentines to have scored in three different World Cups.

He also made history by becoming the first player to score in the World Cup in his twenties, thirty years old, and even his teens. Argentina was defeated by eventual champions France in the tournament's round of 16. In addition to the World Cup, Messi has competed in five Copa America Cups (2007, 2011, 2015, 2016, and 2019), losing to Chile on penalties in the finals in both 2015 and 2016.

When Messi entered as a substitute in the 74th minute of Argentina's second game against Serbia and Montenegro at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, he made history by becoming the youngest player to represent Argentina at a FIFA World Cup. In addition, his final goal in their 6–0 triumph made him the youngest scorer of the competition and the sixth-youngest in World Cup history. Messi did not participate in Argentina's quarterfinal loss against Germany. Argentina was eliminated by Germany in the quarterfinals of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Messi was named one of the top 10 players in the tournament by FIFA, despite the fact that he didn't score any goals during the competition because he largely served as the facilitator.

Lionel Messi, then 24 years old, was named captain of the Argentine national team in 2011. He equaled Gabriel Batistuta's record for most goals scored in a calendar year for Argentina in 2012 with 12 goals in 9 games for Argentina. Additionally, with 70 goals in 138 games, Lionel Messi is Argentina's all-time best scorer as of 2019.

Messi scored 38 goals in 51 games during the 2008–2009 season, the first in which he completed the entire campaign without experiencing any injury problems. He became the youngest player to ever win the Champions League top scorer accolade with 9 of those goals coming in the Champions League. In that season, Barcelona was extraordinarily successful. When a club wins three significant trophies in a single campaign, it has won a triple. Barcelona won the La Liga title that year thanks to Messi's 23 league goals. As Lionel Messi contributed to two goals, Barcelona defeated Athletic Bilbao 4-1 in the Copa del Rey final, an annual knockout football game in Spain.

Messi scored Barcelona's second goal in the 2-0 victory over Manchester United in the Champions League final. Thus, FC Barcelona won the first treble in Spanish football history. They also won three further trophies throughout the campaign, making them the first club to complete an unprecedented sextuple. Messi scored 47 goals across all competitions in the 2009–2010 season. His 34 goals enabled Barcelona to win the La Liga championship twice in a row. Despite Barcelona losing in the semifinals, Messi once again led all scorers in the Champions Trophy with 8 goals.

One of the major accomplishments of Lionel Messi is that he became the youngest ever scorer for FC Barcelona at the time. Lionel Messi made his first team debut in a friendly match against FC Porto at the age of 16. On October 16, 2004, Messi participated in his first official game of the 2004–2005 season. He entered the game against Espanyol in the 82nd minute while he was on the right wing. At the time, Messi was the youngest player to represent Barcelona in an official match at the time, doing so at the age of 17 years, 3 months, and 22 days. That year, he made his Champions League debut as well, playing a total of 77 minutes. On May 1, 2005, Messi scored his first goal for Barcelona against Albacete.

He was the club's youngest ever scorer at the time, doing so at the age of 17 years, 331 days. Ansu Fati currently holds the record for this. As he formed an attacking three with Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto'o, Messi quickly became the team's first-choice right winger. In the 2006–2007 season, Messi started to distinguish himself as one of the top players in the world, scoring 17 goals in 36 games across all competitions. The game between bitter rivals FC Barcelona and Real Madrid is known as El Clásico, or "The Classic." On March 10, 2007, Messi became the first player to accomplish so in a Clásico in 12 years, at the age of just 19 years old.

The Laureus World Sports Awards are an annual awards ceremony that recognizes outstanding sports figures and the year's best sporting accomplishments. The only footballers who have received multiple nominations for the award are Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Messi was the first footballer to receive the Laureus World Sports Award in 2020 after receiving six nominations for the honor. Lionel Messi was named one of Time magazine's top 100 most influential people in the world in 2011 and 2012. In addition, Forbes listed him as the highest-paid athlete in the world in 2019. Throughout his career, Messi has participated in humanitarian endeavors.

Since 2004, he has, among other things, donated time and money to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Since March 2010, he has been a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. A number of UNICEF initiatives, such as those on HIV prevention, education, and the social inclusion of children with disabilities, benefited from his contributions. In addition to UNICEF, Messi founded his own humanitarian organization in 2007. The Leo Messi Foundation promotes children's access to sports, education, and health care.

Lionel Messi was identified as having growth hormone deficiency (GHD) at the age of 11, a condition that inhibited growth and necessitated pricey medical care. But because of his extraordinary talent, Spanish professional football team FC Barcelona promised to pay for his medical expenses and gave him the chance to practice at their La Masia junior program. The Messi family moved to Barcelona in February 2001. Since initially signing the contract at the age of 13, Lionel Messi has only ever competed for FC Barcelona. Messi demonstrated his potential when he was still a young player. He was a crucial member of "Generation 87," also known as the "Baby Dream Team," which is largely regarded as Barcelona's greatest-ever youth team and also included Cesc Fabregas and Gerard Pique.

It swept everything in its path, going undefeated throughout their U.15 season and taking home the Copa Catalunya, the Catalan and Spanish league championships. Argentina won the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship under Lionel Messi's captaincy on the international stage. In addition, he earned the Golden Ball and Golden Shoe prizes, which are given to the top player and scorer in the competition, respectively.

Messi contributed 24 assists across all competitions and 53 goals throughout the 2010–2011 season. He became the first player in Spanish football to reach the milestone of 50 goals as a result. Messi scored 31 goals as Barcelona captured their third straight La Liga championship. In the final, they defeated Manchester United 3-1, and Messi was named Player of the Match. They also won the Champions League. Messi was also the competition's leading scorer for the third straight year with 12 goals. Messi contributed 29 assists and 73 goals. In the 1972–73 Bundesliga season, Gerd Müller scored 67 goals; he scored 73. As a result, Messi now holds the record for most goals scored in a single season in European club football. This is one of the major accomplishments of Lionel Messi.

With 50 goals during the 2017–18 campaign, Messi still holds the record for the most goals scored by a player in a La Liga season. Additionally, Lionel Messi surpassed Gerd Müller's previous record for the most goals scored in a calendar year in 2012. While Muller scored 85 goals in 1972 for Bayern Munich and Germany, Messi scored 91 goals in all competitions for Barcelona and Argentina. Barcelona lost in the semifinals of the Champions League while finishing second in La Liga.