The Eurocup and the Copa América, two tournaments separated by the sea but united by a shared love, are preparing a celebration of football – or football, or soccer – without many precedents. Together, when they begin on Friday and June 20, respectively, they will elevate 40 men’s national teams to stages eclipsed only by the World Cup. They will present the sport. 16 best international teams and 23 of the top 25. They will fill television screens from dawn to dusk in the United States. On July 14, five hours apart and for the first time on the same day, champions will be crowned.
And along the way, they will likely crown a third champion: this year’s Ballon d’Or.
Together, they will help answer a question that seems more open than ever in recent times: Who is the best soccer player in the world?
For more than a decade, Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo held that title. From roughly 2008-2020, until Ronaldo’s decline, they maintained an undisputed duopoly at the top of the sport.
Now, perhaps the legs of Messi, 36, will cling to the throne; or, perhaps, it is vacant.
Messi extended his reign at the 2021 Copa América and the 2022 World Cup. But he has spent the last 12 months in Major League Soccer. His presumed successor, Kylian Mbappé, has spent the last 12 months mired in a messy divorce with PSG, still lighting up France but stumbling in the Champions League.
Meanwhile, the world’s three major club competitions have named debutant players of the year in 2023-24. Jude Bellingham won the award in Spain; Phil Foden won it in England. Vinicius Junior won the Champions League prize as he and Bellingham led Real Madrid to yet another title.
But was Bellingham’s dream debut campaign a bit fortuitous? Was it the beginning of a decade of great global success or simply a good season embellished by a good scoring streak?
Is Foden a genuine superstar, or were he, Rodri and Erling Haaland just dragged into this conversation by Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City machine?
This summer should answer those questions.
Vinicius, for example, has entered the conversation with three electric, challenging and productive seasons in Spain, but… what has he done for Brazil? He has three goals and four assists in 28 national team appearances.
Therefore, the conversation should start with the headlines, even if it doesn’t end there.
Messi is the GOAT, emerging from a statistical ebb to the peak of his powers in 2022. In 22 pre-World Cup games for club and country that fall, he scored 1.54 non-penalty goals plus assists per 90 minutes, at pace . for the second best grade of his brilliant career. Then, of course, he shined brighter than ever in Qatar and won a head-to-head duel with Mbappé in the final.
Now, he’s tearing up MLS at absurd, unmatched rates, posting a 1.83 penalty-free G+A/90 in the league this season. by FBref. But the argument in favor of Messi is no longer numerical. His last three years in Europe were merely elitist, not stratospheric; They couldn’t match Mbappé’s men. His numbers in the MLS cannot be compared because his opponents are much inferior. So the argument is that, on any given day, no other player can fool defenders and conjure magical, swinging plays like Messi does.
But can he still do all that as before, at the highest level?
The Copa América is the first real opportunity Messi has in more than a year to show that the answer is yes.
If not, Mbappé is the heir to his throne, and more or less has been since 2018. That year, at age 19, he won the World Cup and then compiled the first of six absurd seasons at PSG. In each of the six, from 2018 to 2024, he surpassed 1.0 npG+A/90. (Messi concluded his two years in Paris with 0.88). Mbappé destroyed his opponents with each of football’s most valuable skills: pace, strength, intelligence, ball skills, audacity and lethal finishing.
But until now he has rarely ventured outside France. He has never won a Ballon d’Or and until last year had not even finished in the top three, in part because he played most of his matches in Ligue 1, the fifth best domestic circuit in the world. (And since PSG has never won the Champions League, the award, while an individual honor, often rewards team success.)
Mbappé’s international exploits suggest that he is indeed an “off-planet player” and probably the best in the world today. He is on track to break almost every World Cup record imaginable and is closing in on France’s all-time scoring mark, at just 25 years old.
Then, enter euros as the default answer. He doesn’t have to take the throne; You just have to remind everyone that you have it.
But if he doesn’t, a future teammate could take over. Vini Jr. is the favorite for the 2024 Ballon d’Or and, according to many experts, including Thierry Henry, compatriot of Mbappé and aspiring Olympic coach – the best player in the world “at the moment.” He is the best 1v1 dribbler in the game. Over the past three seasons, he has added goals and assists in his signature style. The fact that he has produced so well and consistently across multiple positions and formations suggests that his talent is scheme-proof and his success is sustainable.
His barrier to the throne, in a way, used to be Neymar. Wearing Brazil’s yellow jersey, Vini had always been relegated to a secondary role… until now. Neymar is injured. vini is the type. Can drag a relatively ordinary? selection Return to the top of the Americas?
In the Euro Cup two Englishmen and a Spaniard could also give their opinion. Bellingham and Foden, at ages 20 and 23, put up elite goal creation numbers in 2023-24, while also contributing as forward defenders. And Rodri was the rock at Manchester City’s heart, a driver, a destroyer and an occasional goalscorer all in one.
In general, it is difficult to compare two-way midfielders with otherworldly attackers. It is also more difficult to extract them from systems and context. If Rodri or Bellingham were included in a mid-table team like Manchester United or Real Betis, would they elevate that team as much as Mbappé would?
It is generally accepted that attackers (goal creators) are the most valuable players in the sport.
But the Euro and Copa América, with each player placed in a new system and context, will be revealing.
