When you’ve won every trophy in sight, there’s only one solution: Expand your view.
That could be the fate of soccer legend Lionel Messi, who has won 48 official trophies across his 20+ years of play for both club and country. He has only gone trophy-less in two seasons (2013–14, 2019–20) since he began his professional career in 2004.
Since joining his current team Inter Miami in 2023, Messi has won the Leagues Cup (2023), MLS Supporters’ Shield (2024), MLS Cup (2025) and the Campeones Cup (2026). The Herons have only failed to win the Concacaf Champions Cup, reaching as far as the semifinals in 2025.
In short, Messi needs more hardware to fight for, and a big opportunity may present itself to Inter Miami soon enough: the Copa Libertadores.
Traditionally a competition between South America’s most premier soccer clubs, Conmebol chief Alejandro Dominguez has flirted with opening up the tournament to MLS teams—specifically Inter Miami—sometime in the future, pending an agreement with Concacaf. “The door is open to them,” Dominguez said in January, after Miami owner Jorge Mas publicly expressed his “dream” of competing in the tournament.
While no MLS team has ever featured in the Libertadores, two Liga MX teams participated each year between 1998 and 2016. Due to scheduling clashes, the agreement was brought to an end after 18 years.
“It has been done in the past, but we are very respectful of the other confederations, Dominguez added back in January. “But yes, it is an honor that teams from other confederations have the Libertadores as a reference for international and world competition.”
Dominguez resurfaced the conversation just last week, though. He teased Messi about the possibility of competing in Copa Libertadores during the forward’s farewell match for Argentina in Buenos Aires. It is an idea current Miami manager Kily González is fully in favor of and one Messi is “excited” about himself.
“My understanding is that we’ve been exploring this possibility for years now,” González said on Friday. “Obviously, we’d love it because it would be amazing; plus … it’s one of the few trophies Leo is missing, so I think that really got him excited too. We’ll see, the decision-making process is a bit of a formality at this point, but we’re ready for anything, and he certainly is.”
Gonzalez emphasized Messi’s desire to fight for trophies, adding: “I see [Messi] every day, and the level he demands is incredible; he pushes us to give our all. He even gets angry when a play doesn’t come off right. He demands so much of us that none of us can afford to slack off. It constantly challenges us to improve, as a club, as a staff, as a coaching team, and as colleagues.”
Messi is currently under a three-year contract extension with Miami that expires at the end of the 2028 season, after which he may opt to retire. The 39-year-old has already retired internationally and has hinted that he does not have much longer at the club level. Therefore, Conmebol must act swiftly if it seeks to reach an agreement with both Concacaf and FIFA to have Messi and his teammates compete in the annual tournament.
The Concacaf Champions Cup is also annual, meaning the clock has not run out for Messi to win that competition too.
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