{"parse":{"title":"Lionel Messi","pageid":2150841,"text":{"*":"

\"Messi\" redirects here. For other uses, see Messi (disambiguation).

\n\n\n\n

Lionel Messi

Messi with Argentina at the 2022 FIFA World Cup

Personal information

Full name

\nLionel Andr\u00e9s Messi^[1]

Date of birth

\n24 June 1987 (age 37)^[1]

Place of birth

\nRosario, Argentina

Height

\n1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)^[1]

Position(s)

\nForward

Team information

Current team

\nInter Miami

Number

\n10

Youth career

1992\u20131995

\nGrandoli

1995\u20132000

\nNewell's Old Boys

2000\u20132004

\nBarcelona

Senior career\"

Years

\nTeam

\nApps

\n(Gls)

2003\u20132004

\nBarcelona C

\n10

\n(5)

2004\u20132005

\nBarcelona B

\n22

\n(6)

2004\u20132021

\nBarcelona

\n520

\n(474)

2021\u20132023

\nParis Saint-Germain

\n58

\n(22)

2023\u2013

\nInter Miami

\n25

\n(21)

International career^\u2021

2004\u20132005

\nArgentina U20

\n18

\n(14)

2008

\nArgentina U23

\n5^[\u03b1]

\n(2)

2005\u2013

\nArgentina

\n191

\n(112)

Medal record

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Men's football\n
\n
Representing $\"\"$ Argentina\n
FIFA World Cup\n
Winner	2022 Qatar	\n
Runner-up	2014 Brazil	\n
Copa Am\u00e9rica\n
Winner	2021 Brazil	\n
Winner	2024 United States	\n
Runner-up	2007 Venezuela	\n
Runner-up	2015 Chile	\n
Runner-up	2016 United States	\n
$\"Third$	2019 Brazil	\n
Finalissima\n
Winner	2022 England	\n
Olympic Games\n
$\"Gold$	2008 Beijing	Team\n
FIFA U-20 World Cup\n
Winner	2005 Netherlands	\n
South American U-20 Championship\n
$\"Third$	2005 Colombia	\n

\n\n\n\n\n

Signature
\n
$\"Lionel$

\n\"Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 00:16, 20 October 2024 (UTC)
\u2021 National team caps and goals, correct as of 08:41, 20 November 2024 (UTC)

\n\n

Argentine professional footballer

Eponyms and public art

Media

Family

Related

Lionel Andr\u00e9s \"Leo\" Messi^{[note 1]} (Spanish pronunciation: [ljo\u02c8nel an\u02c8d\u027ees \u02c8mesi] ^\u24d8; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for and captains both Major League Soccer club Inter Miami and the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Messi set numerous records for individual accolades won throughout his professional footballing career such as eight Ballon d'Or awards and eight times being named the world's best player by FIFA.^{[note 2]} He is the most decorated player in the history of professional football having won 45 team trophies,^{[note 3]} including twelve Big Five league titles, four UEFA Champions Leagues, two Copa Am\u00e9ricas, and one FIFA World Cup. Messi holds the records for most European Golden Shoes (6), most goals for a single club (672, with Barcelona), most goals (474), hat-tricks (36) and assists (192) in La Liga, most matches played (39), assists (18) and goal contributions (34) in the Copa Am\u00e9rica, most matches played (26) and goal contributions (21) in the World Cup, most international appearances (191) and international goals (112) by a South American male, and the second-most in the latter category outright. A prolific goalscorer and creative playmaker, Messi has scored over 850 senior career goals for club and country.\n

Born in Rosario, Argentina, Messi relocated to Spain to join Barcelona at age 13, and made his competitive debut at age 17 in October 2004. He established himself as an integral player for the club within the next three years, and in his first uninterrupted season in 2008\u201309 helped Barcelona achieve the first treble in Spanish football; that year, aged 22, Messi won the first of his four consecutive Ballons d'Or, the first player to win it four times. During the 2011\u201312 season, he set La Liga and European records for most goals in a season, while establishing himself as Barcelona's all-time top scorer. The following two seasons, he finished second for the Ballon d'Or behind Cristiano Ronaldo, his perceived career rival, before regaining his best form during the 2014\u201315 campaign, where he became the all-time top scorer in La Liga, led Barcelona to a historic second treble, and won a fifth Ballon d'Or in 2015. Messi assumed captaincy of Barcelona in 2018, and won a record sixth Ballon d'Or in 2019. During his overall tenure at Barcelona, Messi won a club-record 34 trophies, including ten La Liga titles and four UEFA Champions Leagues, among others. He signed for French club Paris Saint-Germain in August 2021, where he would win the Ligue 1 title during both of his seasons there. Messi joined American club Inter Miami in July 2023, and set a new mark for most goals scored for the club by his second season.\n

An Argentine international, Messi is the national team's all-time leading goalscorer and most-capped player. His style of play as a diminutive, left-footed dribbler drew career-long comparisons with compatriot Diego Maradona, who described Messi as his successor. At the youth level, he won the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship and gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. After his senior debut in 2005, Messi became the youngest Argentine to play and score in a World Cup in 2006. He assumed the national team's captaincy in 2011, and then led Argentina to three consecutive finals: in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the 2015 Copa Am\u00e9rica and the Copa Am\u00e9rica Centenario, all of which they would lose. After initially announcing his international retirement in 2016, he returned to help his country narrowly qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which they would again exit early. Messi and the national team finally broke Argentina's 28-year trophy drought with a victory in the 2021 Copa Am\u00e9rica, where he was named the tournament's best player and which later helped him win his seventh Ballon d'Or that year. He then led Argentina to win the 2022 FIFA World Cup, his country's third overall world championship and first in 36 years. This followed with a record-extending eighth Ballon d'Or in 2023. A second Copa Am\u00e9rica victory with Messi as captain came in 2024.\n

Messi has endorsed sportswear company Adidas since 2006. According to France Football, he was the world's highest-paid footballer for five years out of six between 2009 and 2014, and was ranked the world's highest-paid athlete by Forbes in 2019 and 2022. Messi was among Time's 100 most influential people in the world in 2011, 2012, and 2023. In 2020 and 2023, he was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year, the first team-sport athlete to win it. In 2023, Messi was named Time's Athlete of the Year, and in the following year was bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2020, Messi was named to the Ballon d'Or Dream Team and became the second footballer and second team-sport athlete to surpass $1 billion in career earnings.\n

Club\n	Season\n	League\n	National cup^[a]\n	Continental^[b]\n	Other\n	Total\n
Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals\n
Barcelona C\n	2003\u201304^[406]\n	Tercera Divisi\u00f3n\n	10	5	\u2014	\u2014	\u2014	10	5\n
Barcelona B\n	2003\u201304^[407]\n	Segunda Divisi\u00f3n B\n	5	0	\u2014	\u2014	\u2014	5	0\n
2004\u201305^[408]\n	Segunda Divisi\u00f3n B\n	17	6	\u2014	\u2014	\u2014	17	6\n
Total\n	22	6	\u2014	\u2014	\u2014	22	6\n
Barcelona\n	2004\u201305^[408]\n	La Liga\n	7	1	1	0	1	0	\u2014	9	1\n
2005\u201306^[409]\n	La Liga\n	17	6	2	1	6	1	0	0	25	8\n
2006\u201307^[410]\n	La Liga\n	26	14	2	2	5	1	3^[c]	0	36	17\n
2007\u201308^[411]\n	La Liga\n	28	10	3	0	9	6	\u2014	40	16\n
2008\u201309^[412]\n	La Liga\n	31	23	8	6	12	9	\u2014	51	38\n
2009\u201310^[413]\n	La Liga\n	35	34	3	1	11	8	4^[d]	4	53	47\n
2010\u201311^[414]\n	La Liga\n	33	31	7	7	13	12	2^[e]	3	55	53\n
2011\u201312^[415]\n	La Liga\n	37	50	7	3	11	14	5^[f]	6	60	73\n
2012\u201313^[416]\n	La Liga\n	32	46	5	4	11	8	2^[e]	2	50	60\n
2013\u201314^[417]\n	La Liga\n	31	28	6	5	7	8	2^[e]	0	46	41\n
2014\u201315^[418]\n	La Liga\n	38	43	6	5	13	10	\u2014	57	58\n
2015\u201316^[419]\n	La Liga\n	33	26	5	5	7	6	4^[g]	4	49	41\n
2016\u201317^[420]\n	La Liga\n	34	37	7	5	9	11	2^[e]	1	52	54\n
2017\u201318^[421]\n	La Liga\n	36	34	6	4	10	6	2^[e]	1	54	45\n
2018\u201319^[422]\n	La Liga\n	34	36	5	3	10	12	1^[e]	0	50	51\n
2019\u201320^[423]\n	La Liga\n	33	25	2	2	8	3	1^[e]	1	44	31\n
2020\u201321^[424]\n	La Liga\n	35	30	5	3	6	5	1^[e]	0	47	38\n
Total\n	520	474	80	56	149	120	29	22	778	672\n
Paris Saint-Germain\n	2021\u201322^[425]\n	Ligue 1\n	26	6	1	0	7	5	\u2014	34	11\n
2022\u201323^[426]\n	Ligue 1\n	32	16	1	0	7	4	1^[h]	1	41	21\n
Total\n	58	22	2	0	14	9	1	1	75	32\n
Inter Miami\n	2023\n	MLS\n	6	1	1	0	\u2014	7^[i]	10	14	11\n
2024\n	MLS\n	19	20	\u2014	3^[j]	2	3^[k]	1	25	23\n
Total\n	25	21	1	0	3	2	10	11	39	34\n
Career total\n	635	528	83	56	166	131	40	34	924	749\n

Appearances and goals by national team, year and competition\n
Team\n	Year\n	Competitive\n	Friendly\n	Total\n
Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals\n
Argentina U20^[185]^[427]\n	2004\n	\u2014\n	2\n	3\n	2\n	3\n
2005\n	16^[a]\n	11\n	\u2014\n	16\n	11\n
Total\n	16\n	11\n	2\n	3\n	18\n	14\n
Argentina U23^[428]^[429]\n	2008\n	5^[b]	2	\u2014	5^[\u03b1]\n	2\n
Total\n	5\n	2\n	0\n	0\n	5\n	2\n
Argentina^[433]^[434]\n	2005\n	3^[c]\n	0\n	2\n	0\n	5\n	0\n
2006\n	3^[d]\n	1\n	4\n	1\n	7\n	2\n
2007\n	10^[e]\n	4\n	4\n	2\n	14\n	6\n
2008\n	6^[f]\n	1\n	2\n	1\n	8\n	2\n
2009\n	8^[f]\n	1\n	2\n	2\n	10\n	3\n
2010\n	5^[g]\n	0\n	5\n	2\n	10\n	2\n
2011\n	8^[h]\n	2\n	5\n	2\n	13\n	4\n
2012\n	5^[i]\n	5\n	4\n	7\n	9\n	12\n
2013\n	5^[i]\n	3\n	2\n	3\n	7\n	6\n
2014\n	7^[j]\n	4\n	7\n	4\n	14\n	8\n
2015\n	6^[k]\n	1\n	2\n	3\n	8\n	4\n
2016\n	10^[l]\n	8\n	1\n	0\n	11\n	8\n
2017\n	5^[m]\n	4\n	2\n	0\n	7\n	4\n
2018\n	4^[n]\n	1\n	1\n	3\n	5\n	4\n
2019\n	6^[o]\n	1\n	4\n	4\n	10\n	5\n
2020\n	4^[p]\n	1\n	\u2014\n	4\n	1\n
2021\n	16^[q]\n	9\n	\u2014\n	16\n	9\n
2022\n	10^[r]\n	8\n	4\n	10\n	14\n	18\n
2023\n	5^[s]\n	3\n	3\n	5\n	8\n	8\n
2024\n	9^[t]\n	4\n	2\n	2\n	11\n	6\n
Total\n	135\n	61\n	56\n	51\n	191\n	112\n
Career total\n	156\n	74\n	58\n	54\n	213\n	128\n

Early life

Youth career

Newell's Old Boys

Barcelona

Club career

Barcelona

2004\u20132008: Rise to the first team

2008\u20132012: Success under Pep Guardiola

2012\u20132014: Record-breaking year and Messidependencia

2014\u20132017: Arrival of Luis Enrique and birth of MSN

2017\u20132021: Final years at Barcelona

Paris Saint-Germain

Inter Miami

International career

Player profile

Style of play

Tactical positioning

Reception

Comparisons with Cristiano Ronaldo

Comparisons with Diego Maradona

In popular culture

Popularity

Wealth and sponsorships

Philanthropy

Public art

Media

Business ventures

Personal life

Family and relationships

Tax fraud

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

See also

Notes

References

External links

Lionel Messi

Chronicle