Lionel Messi, the star player for Inter Miami, brought back his latest Ballon d’Or award and showed it off to the college players in the youth school on Thursday.

Messi’s academy in Miami put up a movie with clips of him playing with kids and taking pictures with the team and the trophy.

The 36-year-old player beat out guys like Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe to win his eighth Ballon d’Or.

A video on X showed him carrying the trophy in a big case into one of the buildings at Miami’s practice site. He then met up with the young players who were waiting for him.

After shaking hands and hugging one group of players, Messi took the time to take a group picture with them. He then did the same thing with a younger team.

Then someone joined him on the field, where he took pictures with both sets of players and their coaches.

David Beckham, president and co-owner of Miami, gave Messi the Ballon d’Or after he beat Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, and Kevin de Bruyne to win his eighth title. The Argentina leader won the Ballon d’Or because of how heroic he was at the World Cup last December when he scored seven goals to lead his team to a historic win. Soon after, he broke records when he signed a deal to leave Paris Saint-Germain and join Miami.

Even though Messi missed the MLS playoffs, he made an instant difference for Miami, which was at the bottom of the league before he arrived. He led the team to its first club prize within two months. In August, they won the first Leagues Cup.

Miami made it to the US Open Cup final in September, but the Houston Dynamo beat them. 

Messi only played in six MLS regular season games because he was hurt or had to play for his country. He scored one goal and set up two others in those games.

Messi and his friends in Miami were getting ready for a short trip to China that would have included two friendlies. However, the tour was recently canceled because of things that were out of their control.

No-shows were planned because of respect for Chinese officials after the death of Li Keqiang, the country’s former second-ranking leader, last week, according to NSN, the company that put on the tour. He was in charge of China’s economy for ten years.