Messi wins a second straight MLS Golden Boot with 26 goals as Nashville set a 77-point record

Lionel Messi did not score on the last day of the MLS regular season, and it did not matter. His 26 league goals were enough to make him the first player to win the Golden Boot in back-to-back seasons, according to AFP's Decision Day report on France 24. Dallas forward Petar Musa finished second on 22 after his team's 3-1 win over Colorado, in which he did not score.

The bigger record belonged to Nashville SC. A 2-0 win at FC Cincinnati on November 7 took them to 77 points, an all-time MLS single-season record, passing the 74 that Inter Miami set in 2024.

Nashville: 23 wins, 3 defeats, 8 draws

Nashville finished 23-3-8, which works out to 69 points from wins and 8 from draws. The club's own site lists 23 wins and 77 points as MLS single-season records and calls three losses the fewest in a regular season, per its season numbers page. It also says Nashville conceded the fewest goals in a regular season, though the page does not give the figure, so we do not either.

The Supporters' Shield was settled long before Saturday. SixOneFive Soccer reported that Nashville clinched on October 24 with a 2-0 win at CF Montreal, sitting on 70 points with three games left. That tied the MLS record for the earliest Shield clinch. The same report lists what the trophy buys: home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, a place in the 2027 CONCACAF Champions Cup, and, if Nashville reach the MLS Cup final, a title game at Geodis Park on December 18.

That home edge is the practical prize. The club was 11 wins and 1 draw at home through 24 games, according to its own mid-season numbers. Nashville open the East playoffs against the winner of the wild-card game between Orlando and Cincinnati, per AFP.

Messi: the numbers behind the second Golden Boot

Going into the final weekend Messi had 26 goals and 14 assists in 30 league matches, World Soccer Talk reported. He won the 2025 award with 29 goals, so this year's total is three lower, but it held up with four to spare over Musa. Goals scored in the playoffs do not count toward the award, Gulf News noted.

One wrinkle in the coverage: AFP and World Soccer Talk call this the first back-to-back Golden Boot in MLS history, while Gulf News frames it as the first retention since the award became goals-based in 2005. World Soccer Talk lists Preki, Taylor Twellman, Jeff Cunningham, Chris Wondolowski and Bradley Wright-Phillips as repeat winners, but none in consecutive seasons. The sources agree on the substance.

On the final day Messi set up Miami's first two goals, both from corners, per AFP. Charlotte came back to 3-3, with an equalizer in the 90th minute, so the defending champions finished second in the East on 60 points. They host Columbus in the first round and have home advantage in at least their first two playoff rounds. The playoffs begin November 18, per World Soccer Talk.

What the 17-point gap tells you

Nashville finished 17 points ahead of Miami, the East's second seed. Home-field advantage carries into the playoffs, but the regular-season points total does not. The bracket below Nashville is tight: New England, third on 58, lost 1-0 at Orlando on the last day and now meet Philadelphia, and Columbus avoided the wild-card round by finishing seventh after a 4-3 win at Chicago. In the West, Vancouver won the conference and finished second overall.

For a league that markets itself around Messi, the split screen is the story: the league's Golden Boot winner plays for the East's second seed, while the record-setting team is Nashville. Follow the bracket on our MLS scores and schedule pages.

Sources: AFP via France 24 (Nov. 7, 2026); Nashville SC; SixOneFive Soccer; Gulf News; World Soccer Talk. Standings and scorers are as reported by those outlets on November 7-8, 2026. Match details we could not confirm in more than one place were left out. This is sports information, not betting or investment advice.