Eras don’t always have a concrete end date, and so it is with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, and the period of soccer time that they created, bent to their will, and dominated remorselessly.
Will the era not officially end until one or both of them hang up their cleats and drift off into well-deserved retirement, a glittering string of accolades trailing in their wake?
Did it actually already end at some point, perhaps in the winter of 2022, when Messi finally got his hands on the World Cup trophy and Ronaldo took his talents to the Saudi Pro League?
Or perhaps the time is right now. It certainly feels like it.
This week, Ronaldo and Messi were left off the list of nominees for the Ballon d’Or, a 30-strong collection of the world’s best talent, which will eventually be whittled down to a top three and an ultimate winner, who gains the privilege of being able to call themselves the finest player on the planet.
Manchester City and Spain’s Rodri is among the most obvious leading contenders, along with Real Madrid duo Vini jr. (Brazil) and Jude Bellingham (England).
The omission of Messi and Ronaldo wasn’t the starkest or most stunning revelation. Messi is a year and change into his run with Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami and Ronaldo is still with Al-Nassr — and the award invariably skews heavily in favor of players plying their trade in one of the big European leagues, and the Champions League.
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Even then, there were some additional surprises, with Bayern Munich sporting director Max Eberl raging at the “completely incomprehensible” decision to leave out Euros standout Jamal Musiala.
At 39 and 37 respectively, Ronaldo and Messi have shown little sign of slowing down. Within weeks of arriving in MLS, Messi helped the David Beckham-owned Miami club to the Leagues Cup title, while Ronaldo struck 44 goals in 45 in Saudi Arabia.
Karim Benzema and Luka Modrić are the only other active players to have also won the Ballon d’Or and were also left off the list, meaning there is guaranteed to be a first-time winner.
Soccer has been aware for some time that a passing of the torch is underway — Lamine Yamal lit up the Euros at age 16, for goodness’ sake — but it has never felt more like it than now.
But how do you even judge how an era ends? In many ways, Messi and Ronaldo are still as relevant as ever. No other players generate as much attention, their every move still magnified and scrutinized, their highlight reels unmatched in popularity.
They have had a stranglehold on the Ballon d’Or’s modern history. Aside from Benzema and Modric’s sole triumphs, no other player has won it since Kaka in 2007. Not since 2003 has neither Messi or Ronaldo appeared on the shortlist.
That’s why the list looks weird without them. Of all the competitions they have thrived in, it is this individual accolade that they have essentially turned into their personal plaything.
Messi has won it eight times, Ronaldo five. In the 13 iterations between 2007-19, both featured in the top three 11 times.
That these were the best two players in the world was an indisputable fact for basically a decade and a half.
So what now?
The Bellingham era? The Kylian Mbappé era? Yamal’s generation?
In truth, the outrageously high level of current soccer, plus the grueling nature of the club and international calendar, makes it virtually unthinkable that one, let alone two players could stand above the pack to such a level again.
It is hard to know what is more impressive at times, the standard Messi and Ronaldo reached and perhaps pushed each other to, or the length of time that they were able to sustain it.
It leaves soccer in a weird kind of limbo, too. For all the talk that Portugal’s national team might be better off with Ronaldo either absent, or at least in a limited role, his participation in the 2026 World Cup cannot be discounted.
Same goes for Messi, still influential on a star-studded Argentina roster that will be hungry to repeat as world champions when soccer’s grandest show comes to the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Maybe it is a phasing out, more than a defined finish line. And perhaps this is the best of both worlds, soccer’s ultimate power couple still here, still entertaining, even as the curtain closes on their era and a new one begins.
Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports. Follow him on Twitter @MRogersFOX.
Lionel Messi
Cristiano Ronaldo
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