FORT LAUDERDALE - Inter Miami CF forward Leo Messi is on pace to win an unprecedented third consecutive Landon Donovan MLS MVP award, leading the league with 21 goals and 13 assists as the 2026 regular season enters its final weeks.
Messi’s combined goal and assist totals top every other player in the league, and no other candidate has mounted a sustained challenge to the two-time reigning MVP. MLS Soccer’s power rankings, released Thursday, put the gap plainly: “There’s two-time reigning MLS MVP Leo Messi, and then there’s everyone else in this year’s race.”
The closest challengers heading into October are FC Dallas forward Musa, who has posted 18 goals and five assists while helping push Dallas to second place in the Western Conference, and Nashville SC midfielder Hany Mukhtar, the 2022 MVP winner, who has contributed 13 goals and seven assists as Nashville runs away with the Supporters’ Shield.
New England Revolution midfielder Carles Gil, with 12 goals and nine assists, ranks second in the Eastern Conference standings and has drawn praise for elevating younger teammates around him. FC Cincinnati’s Evander, carrying 13 goals and 13 assists, has seen his club slip below the Audi 2026 MLS Cup Playoffs line - a standing that could weigh against him in MVP voting if Cincinnati fails to recover.
Other players who drew consideration but fell outside the top five include New York City FC’s Nico Fernández Mercau, Houston’s Guilherme, Philadelphia Union homegrown phenom Cavan Sullivan, Vancouver Whitecaps FC’s Brian White, San Diego FC’s Anders Dreyer, and Charlotte FC’s Pep Biel.
The MLS regular season concludes in the coming weeks before the Audi 2026 MLS Cup Playoffs begin, giving Messi’s rivals a narrow window to close the gap in the MVP balloting.