Lionel Messi has won the 2025 MLS Golden Boot.
For a long time, English striker Sam Surridge topped the goalscoring charts, and he finished the campaign with a very impressive 24 goals — level with LAFC’s Denis Bouanga — which would have been enough to win each of the previous five Golden Boots.
However, Surridge and Bouanga were going up against a force of nature, with Messi hitting five goals in his last two matches — including a hat-trick against Surridge’s Nashville SC on Decision Day — to finish exactly that far ahead of the duo on 29.
It’s the first time Messi has won the award since arriving in MLS, and it’s the most goals scored by a player in a single regular season since Carlos Vela netted 34 goals in 2019.
Now, of course, Messi will look to take this goalscoring form into the MLS Cup Playoffs, where Inter Miami are looking to overcome a poor post-season record to win the title for the first time.
Before that, take a look at the full MLS Golden Boot standings below.
MLS 2025 most goals
| Player | Club | Goals | Minutes played |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lionel Messi | Inter Miami | 29 | 2,420 |
| Denis Bouanga | LAFC | 24 | 2,661 |
| Sam Surridge | Nashville SC | 24 | 2,942 |
| Anders Dreyer | San Diego FC | 19 | 3,025 |
| Petar Musa | FC Dallas | 18 | 2,304 |
| Evander | FC Cincinnati | 18 | 2,744 |
| Dejan Joveljic | Sporting KC | 18 | 2,772 |
| Alonso Martinez | NYCFC | 17 | 2,508 |
| Eric Choupo-Moting | New York Red Bulls | 17 | 2,761 |
| Hugo Cuypers | Chicago Fire | 17 | 2,815 |
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MLS Golden Boot previous winners
| Year | Player | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Roy Lassiter | Tampa Bay Mutiny | 27 |
| 1997 | Preki | Kansas City Wizards | 12 |
| 1998 | Stern John | Columbus Crew | 26 |
| 1999 | Jason Kreis | Dallas Burn | 18 |
| 2000 | Mamadou Diallo | Tampa Bay Mutiny | 26 |
| 2001 | Alex Pineda Chacon | Miami Fusion | 19 |
| 2002 | Taylor Twellman | New England Revolution | 23 |
| 2003 | Preki | Kansas City Wizards | 12 |
| 2004 | Amado Guevara/Pat Noonan | MetroStars/New England Revolution | 10/11* |
| 2005 | Taylor Twellman | New England Revolution | 17 |
| 2006 | Jeff Cunningham | Real Salt Lake | 16 |
| 2007 | Luciano Emilio | DC United | 20 |
| 2008 | Landon Donovan | LA Galaxy | 20 |
| 2009 | Jeff Cunningham | FC Dallas | 17 |
| 2010 | Chris Wondolowski | San Jose Earthquakes | 18 |
| 2011 | Dwayne De Rosario | DC United | 16 |
| 2012 | Chris Wondolowski | San Jose Earthquakes | 27 |
| 2013 | Camilo Sanvezzo | Vancouver Whitecaps | 22 |
| 2014 | Bradley Wright-Phillips | New York Red Bulls | 27 |
| 2015 | Sebastian Giovinco | Toronto FC | 22 |
| 2016 | Bradley Wright-Phillips | New York Red Bulls | 24 |
| 2017 | Nemanja Nikolic | Chicago Fire | 24 |
| 2018 | Josef Martinez | Atlanta United | 31 |
| 2019 | Carlos Vela | LAFC | 34 |
| 2020 | Diego Rossi | LAFC | 14 |
| 2021 | Taty Castellanos | NYCFC | 19 |
| 2022 | Hany Mukhtar | Nashville SC | 23 |
| 2023 | Denis Bouanga | LAFC | 20 |
| 2024 | Christian Benteke | DC United | 23 |
| 2025 | Lionel Messi | Inter Miami | 29 |