Lionel Messi has stated that Ballon d’Or is not important to him after winning the FIFA World Cup 2022. Messi, who has won the prestigious Ballon d’Or for a record seven times, is once again one of the prime contenders to win the golden ball this year, however, the Argentine is not thinking much about the individual award.

Messi has recently left Paris Saint-Germain after his two-year stint at the French capital. The Argentine is all set to sign Inter Miami which he has himself announced.

Messi, who is arguably the greatest player to play the game, ruled the European football for about 15 years and his move to Miami is touted as a path-breaking in Major League Soccer history. The 35-year-old apparently rejected USD 1 billion-plus offer from Saudi club Al Hilal. He was also close to a move to his former club Barcelona but it didn’t happen after the club delayed in offering Messi an official contract. The Argentine himself wanted to rejoin Barcelona but didn’t want to put himself in a situation where he was in a couple of years back where the club failed to offer him a contract extension despite the informal agreement due to the FFP rules.

Messi is currently in China with the Argentina team for their match against Australia. He was asked about whether the prestigious golden ball matters to him anymore, who is given to the best player of the year.

“Does the Ballon d’Or matter to me? No, it’s no longer important to me. I’ve always said, the individual prizes are not what matters to me, but the collective ones are the most important. The most important prize at the moment is the World Cup, the greatest prize for me,” Messi told Titan Sports in China.

Argentina will play Thursday’s friendly against Australia at the 68,000-capacity Workers’ Stadium in Beijing. The match is a repeat of the last-16 tie between the teams at the World Cup in Doha, which Argentina won 2-1.