Lionel Messi seen more negatively following 2026 World Cup

But the public still tend to favour him over Cristiano Ronaldo for GOAT title

Key takeaways

Lionel Messi’s net favourability rating among Britons has fallen from +46 to -15 over the last month

67% of Britons now see Jude Bellingham favourably, up from 48% at the start of the tournament

The public see England manager Thomas Tuchel favourably by 36% to 18%

44% of those who watched the World Cup at least a fair amount feel England did better than they expected

Football fans back Messi over Ronaldo as the greatest footballer of all time by 38% to 16%

Spain are now, for the second time, the football world champions, having beaten Argentina in the World Cup final on Sunday after extra time. While the contentious match was a little overshadowed by post-match violence from the Argentinian team, the result will have delighted the 66% of Britons who had wanted Spain to win, avenging Lionel Messi’s side knocking England out in the semi-final.

However, new YouGov polling shows that it’s not just a World Cup final that Messi has lost, but also his previously positive reputation among the British public.

Near the start of the tournament, after the first group games had been played, a majority of Britons (55%) had a favourable view of the Argentinian number 10, putting him on a par with England forward Marcus Rashford. This view largely held during the round of 16 matches, by which point the public still viewed Messi favourably by 50% to 11%.

Now the tournament has ended, though, just 29% of Britons have a positive opinion of the legendary playmaker, while 44% see him unfavourably, turning a net rating of +46 into one of -15 in roughly a month.

By contrast, Jude Bellingham – England’s number 10 – has been a star of the tournament, with a full two thirds of Britons (67%) now having a favourable opinion of the Three Lions’ top scorer, up 19 points from mid-June.

Opinion towards the other England players polled across the tournament has been more steady, with 63% of Britons seeing captain Harry Kane favourably and 60% feeling likewise about Marcus Rashford, compared to 60% and 55% respectively in the early stages of the tournament.

Little change in favourable opinion can also be seen with England manager Thomas Tuchel, with a reasonably consistent 36-39% of the public seeing him positively across the World Cup, but with the proportion seeing him unfavourably rising from 7% after England’s determined opening win against Croatia to 18% in the aftermath of their ultimately unsuccessful campaign.

Part of the reason that the public still tend to see Tuchel positively, even if England were eliminated early, is likely to be that he met expectations for 94% of those who followed the tournament at least a fair amount. In hindsight, a full half of World Cup watchers (50%) say England did as well as they expected they would, while 44% say the Three Lions actually progressed further than they thought they would.

Lionel Messi is not the only footballing legend whose star has slid among Britons over the World Cup. In the early stages of the tournament, the public tended to see Cristiano Ronaldo in positive light, by 41% to 29%. Now, Britons are divided on 34% to 36% on the Portuguese number 7.

While this might leave Ronaldo with a higher net favourability rating among the public than Messi (-2 for the Portuguese striker versus -15 for his Argentinian rival), among those who are very interested in football, this is reversed (-6 Ronaldo vs +10 Messi), with most (54%) still holding a favourable opinion of Messi.

Who is the greatest of all time?

Additionally, despite this fall in opinion for Messi, football fans still tend to back the Argentinian legend when it comes to who is the footballing GOAT (greatest of all time).

Among all those at lest fairly interested in football, 38% back Messi as the greatest footballer of all time, relative to 16% favouring his arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo. A further 34%, however, feel a different footballer holds the crown.

Some of this is, again, ‘casuals’ being less likely to favour Messi. Among just those who say they are very interested in football, nearly half (48%) side with Messi’s claim to the title, roughly three times the 15% who feel Ronaldo is the greatest footballer. A similar 32%, though, think someone else is the GOAT.

There is additionally a generational divide in this debate, with nearly half (46%) of fans aged 50 and over backing ‘someone else’ as the best footballer ever, relative to just 23% of under 50 fans.

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