Lionel Messi has won eight Ballons d’Or and 47 team trophies, and has scored more than 930 senior career goals.
Barcelona
Lionel Andrés Messi was born on 24 June 1987 in Argentina and made his competitive debut for Barcelona in 2004, aged 17. With the club he won 34 trophies, including 10 La Liga titles and four Champions Leagues, and scored a club-record 672 goals. Financial difficulties forced him to leave in 2021.
Paris and Miami
He spent two years at Paris Saint-Germain and won Ligue 1 twice, then joined Inter Miami in 2023. He led the club to its first MLS Cup in 2025 and won the league MVP award in 2024 and 2025. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025.
Argentina
Messi is Argentina’s all-time leading scorer with 126 goals and its most-capped player with 208 appearances. He won the 2008 Olympic gold medal, the 2021 Copa América and the 2022 World Cup, where he became the first player to win the Golden Ball twice. According to Wikipedia he retired from international football in 2026.
Off the Pitch
Messi has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2010 and launched the Leo Messi Foundation in 2007, which supports children’s access to health care, education and sport. In June 2024 he announced Más+, a sports and energy drink brand, and in April 2026 he acquired full ownership of the Spanish club UE Cornellà.
Image: Lionel Messi celebrating for Argentina against Egypt, 7 July 2026 (file photo). Photo: Bryan Berlin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
