Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for the Major League Soccer club Inter Miami, which he captains, and the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in history, He has set numerous records for individual accolades won throughout his professional footballing career, including eight Ballons d'Or, six European Golden Shoes, and being named the world's best player by FIFA eight times. He was named the greatest player of the 21st century by ESPN in 2024, and was named the All Time Men's World Best Player by the IFFHS in 2025. In 2020 and 2023 he was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year, becoming the first team-sport athlete to win the award. He was among Time's 100 most influential people in the world in 2011, 2012, and 2023.
Messi is the most decorated player in the history of professional football, having won 46 team trophies across more than 1,150 career appearances. His records include most goals in a calendar year (91), most assists in the FIFA World Cup (12), and most assists in international football (65). He has scored over 920 senior career goals and provided over 420 assists for club and country, making him the second-highest goalscorer and the highest assist provider in the history of football. Messi was ranked as the world's highest-paid athlete by Forbes in 2019 and 2022. In 2020, he became the second footballer and second team-sport athlete to surpass $1 billion in career earnings. In 2026, he appeared on Forbes' The World's Billionaires list with a net worth of $1.1 billion.
In 2004, Messi made his competitive debut for La Liga club Barcelona at age 17 and soon emerged as one of the most talented young players in the world, being awarded the FIFPRO Young Player of the Year three times in a row from 2006 to 2008. During his first uninterrupted season in 2008–09, he helped Barcelona achieve the first treble in Spanish football. This resulted in Messi winning the first of four consecutive Ballons d'Or, and by the 2011–12 season he had set the European record for most goals in a season and established himself as Barcelona's all-time top scorer. During the 2014–15 season, Messi formed the successful attacking trio MSN with Luis Suárez and Neymar, helping Barcelona achieve a historic second treble and subsequently earning his fifth Ballon d'Or. He was named Barcelona's captain in 2018. While playing for the club, he won a club-record 34 trophies, including 10 La Liga titles and four UEFA Champions Leagues. With Barcelona, he set records for most goals for a single club (672) and most goals in La Liga (474). Financial difficulties at Barcelona forced Messi to depart in 2021 and sign with Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain, where he won the Ligue 1 title twice. He joined the MLS club Inter Miami in 2023 and led them to their first MLS Cup victory in 2025, while also winning the league MVP award in 2024 and 2025. Following his arrival and impact on football in the United States, Messi was named Time's Athlete of the Year in 2023 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by US president Joe Biden in 2025.
Messi is the all-time leading goalscorer (125) and most-capped player (207) of the Argentina national team. Several years after his senior debut in 2005, he won the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Assuming captaincy in 2011, he led Argentina to the finals of the 2014 World Cup, the 2015 Copa América, and the Copa América Centenario, all of which they lost. He subsequently announced his retirement from international football in 2016, though returned soon after. Messi led Argentina to victory at the 2021 Copa América and the 2022 World Cup, and became the first player to win the World Cup Golden Ball twice. He claimed his third major international title when Argentina won the 2024 Copa América. At the 2026 World Cup, Messi led his country to a second consecutive World Cup final, winning his second consecutive Silver Boot and the Silver Ball.
Lionel Andrés Messi was born on 24 June 1987 in Rosario, Santa Fe Province, Argentina. His father, Jorge Messi (1958–2026), was the head of department at an Acindar pressed steel manufacturing plant in Villa Constitución. His mother, Celia Cuccittini, worked in a magnet manufacturing workshop. Messi's parents met as youngsters in the Las Heras district of Rosario, where Messi would later grow up. Jorge and Celia married in 1978, after Jorge completed military service in the Argentine Armed Forces. On his father's side, Messi is of Italian and Spanish descent, the great-grandson of immigrants from the Marche region of Italy (with his surname coming from Porto Recanati), and on his mother's side he has primarily Italian ancestry. Growing up in a tight-knit, football-loving family, "Leo" developed a passion for the sport from an early age, playing constantly with his older brothers, Rodrigo and Matías, and his cousins, Maximiliano and Emanuel Biancucchi, both of whom later became professional footballers. Messi also has a younger sister, María Sol.
At the age of four, Messi joined the local football club Abanderado Grandoli where he was coached by his father. His maternal grandmother, Celia, accompanied him to training and matches. He was greatly affected by her death, shortly before his eleventh birthday. Since then, as a devout Catholic, he has celebrated his goals by looking up and pointing to the sky in tribute to his grandmother. Messi has a general understanding of English but cannot speak it fluently, and has expressed regret for refusing to learn the language during his childhood.
Messi started playing for the Rosario-based football club Newell's Old Boys when he was seven years old; he would become a lifelong supporter of the club. During the six years he played for Newell's, he scored almost 500 goals, and was a member of "The Machine of '87", a nearly unbeatable youth team named for the year of their birth. Messi regularly entertained crowds by performing ball tricks during half-time, when the Newell's first team played home games. His goalscoring idol growing up was Brazilian striker Ronaldo, who Messi called "the best forward I've ever seen".
Messi's future as a professional player was threatened when, at the age of 10, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency. He began growth hormone therapy at age 11; however, his father's health insurance covered only two years of the therapy, which cost at least 1,000 pesos per month. Newell's agreed to contribute, but later reneged on their promise. Messi was scouted by the Buenos Aires club River Plate, whose playmaker Pablo Aimar he idolised. It was speculated for a time that Messi failed to sign with River Plate due to his ill health; however, in a 2019 interview, he revealed that River Plate had wanted to sign him after he scored four goals at a trial, and even offered to pay for his medical treatment, but Newell's refused to release his player card, preventing the transfer.
As the Messi family had relatives in Catalonia, they sought to arrange a trial with Barcelona in September 2000, when Messi was 13. First-team director Carles Rexach immediately wanted to sign him, but the board of directors hesitated; at the time it was highly unusual for European clubs to sign foreign players of such a young age. On 14 December, an ultimatum was issued for Barcelona to prove their commitment, and Rexach, with no other paper at hand, wrote a contract on a paper napkin. In February 2001, Messi's family relocated to Barcelona, where they moved into an apartment near the club's stadium, Camp Nou.
During his first year in Spain, Messi rarely played with the Infantiles due to a transfer conflict with Newell's; as a foreigner, he could only be fielded in friendlies and the Catalan league. Without football, he struggled to integrate into the team. He was reserved by nature, and was so quiet that some of his teammates initially believed he was mute. At home, he suffered from homesickness after his mother moved back to Rosario with his brothers and younger sister, María Sol, while he stayed in Barcelona with his father.