Who is better, Ball or Messi?
Lionel Messi leads with a GOAT score of 97.0 against 82.0 for Alan Ball — a gap of 15.0 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Ball vs Messi
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Lionel Messi above Alan Ball: 97.0 vs 82.0. Lionel Messi leads on Statistics, Honours, Dominance.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
MessiWinner
97.0Messi wins: Dominance, Peak, Longevity, Honours, Statistics
Ball
82.0Ball wins: no category outright
Candidates
Locked to FootballShareable URL · /compare/alan-ball-vs-messi
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇦🇷 Lionel Messi
97.0
Messi leads in 5 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Lionel Messi
2. Alan Ball
Category breakdown
Season form · Form index per season
Career timeline · Form index per season
Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.
GOAT pace tracker
Through age 21 · Form index per season
1. 🇦🇷 Lionel Messi79 goals
4 seasons by age 21 · 19.8 per season
Setting the pace at age 21
No verified birth date for Ball — shown in the pro-debut view instead.
Every career is cut at the season the athlete turned 21, so a rookie today is measured against exactly what a legend had banked by the same birthday.
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Messi97.0
Ball82.0
FAQ
Where does Ball beat Messi?
Ball does not lead any of the five categories; Messi is ahead or level on all of them.
How is the Ball vs Messi score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Ball: 82.0, Messi: 97.0.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Ball vs Messi. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.