Messi has been awarded the Princess of Asturias Sports Award 2026. This was determined by the jury, chaired by Teresa Perales, who met for two days in Oviedo to choose the winner among the 27 candidates, from 12 nationalities, presented.
The paralympic swimmer announced the selection of Messi for “in addition to his dazzling talent, his exceptional sporting career and his formidable and continued solidarity work to promote access to education and health care for the most disadvantaged children.”
He Argentine has become one of the greats of world football in his own right. His sporting merits are unquestionable. He is the footballer with the most titles in his record, as outlined in the jury’s ruling. He has lifted 47 trophies in his 23 seasons as a professional. “He has also earned the respect and admiration of everyone for his exemplary behavior on the field and for his perseverance, humility and commitment to the collective game.”
Messi has earned the respect and admiration of everyone for his exemplary behavior on the field and for his perseverance, humility and commitment to the collective game.
Teresa Perales, when reading the decision of the jury of the Princess of Asturias Sports Award 2026
At the domestic level, with FC Barcelona he achieved 10 Leaguesseven Copas del Rey and eight Spanish Super Cups; with the Paris Saint Germain added two Ligue 1 plus a French Super Cup; and wearing the colors of Inter Miami It has achieved three awards: Leagues Cup (this is international), the MLS Supporters Shield (MLS Regular League, which in the United States is a historic title), and this MLS Cup, that is, the absolute League.
At the international level, Messi won four Champions Leaguesthree club World Cups and three European Super Cups, all of them with Barça. With the Argentine team he won a World Cup, two Copa América, a Finalissima, a Under 20 World Cup and an Olympic gold in Beijing 2008.
Leo Titles.
He ’10’ has not stopped adding individual awards in his career: eight Ballon d’Or, eight ‘Pichichis’, nine LaLiga ‘MVPs’, six Golden Boots, six Champions League Top Scorer, four Onzes d’Or, three The Best, two Best Player in Europe awards, two World Cup Ballon d’Or, two Copa América ‘MVPs’, two Laureus, one FIFA World Player, one FIFA FIFPro, one Golden Boy and one Bravo Trophy. Besides, 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, so that children have the same opportunities to realize their dreams.
He Argentine succeeds Serena Williams in the list of winnerswho received this award a year ago for “her extraordinary sports career and her competitive mentality and having always been a firm defender of gender equality and opportunities between men and women in sports and in society in general.”
The Messi’s candidacy has prevailed over the other 27 presented. For the third consecutive year, the award goes to a woman after Carolina Marín was awarded in 2024 and Serena Williams in 2025. The jury for this edition was made up of Teresa Perales (chairwoman); Paloma del Río (secretary); Juan Ignacio Gallardo, BRAND director; 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 awarded with the Sports award, Established in 1987, there are Sebastian Coe; the Olympic refugee 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 Asturias Sports Award has been awarded individually to a footballer although football had previously paraded through the Campoamor Theater in Oviedo with the Brazilian national team (2002), the Spanish national team (2010) and Iker Casillas and Xavi Hernández (2012).
Winners of the Princess of Asturias Sports Award
1987 Sebastian Coe (Athletics)
1988 Juan Antonio Samaranch (Olympism)
1989 Severiano Ballesteros (Golf)
1990 Sito Pons (Motorcycling)
1991 Sergei 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 (Soccer)
2003 Tour de France (Cycling)
2004 Hicham El Guerrouj (Athletics)
2005 Fernando Alonso (Motor Racing)
2006 Spain national basketball team (Basketball)
2007 Michael Schumacher (Motor Racing)
2008 Rafael Nadal (Tennis)
2009 Yelena Isinbayeva (Athletics)
2010 Spain national football team (Soccer)
2011 Haile Gebrselassie (Athletics)
2012 Iker Casillas/Xavi Hernández (Soccer)
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 team (Rugby)
2018 Reinhold Messner / Krzysztof Wielicki (Mountaineering)
2019 Lindsey Vonn (Ski)
2020 Carlos Sainz (Rally)
2021 Teresa Perales (Paralympic swimming)
2022 Olympic Refugee Foundation and 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 awards held annually by the Princess of Asturias Foundation to fail.after the Arts to the American singer and writer Patti Smiththat of Communication and Humanities to the japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli; the one of Scientific and Technical Research to the British chemists David Klenerman and Shankar Balasubramanian and French biophysicist Pascal Mayer; the one of International Cooperation to the Global Seed Vault Svalbardand that of Social Sciences to the British historian, journalist and essayist Timothy Garton Ash.
Like the rest of the awards, The prize is endowed with a reproduction of a sculpture by Joan Miró -representative symbol of the award-, the cash amount of 50,000 euros, a diploma and a badge.
The Literature awards (June 10) and the Concord award (June 17) still have to be decided. In its forty-sixth edition, 363 candidacies from 67 nationalities have been proposed among all categories of the Princess of Asturias Awardswhich will be delivered at the Campoamor Theater in Oviedo in October.
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