Lionel Andrés Messi was born in Rosario, Argentina, on 24 June 1987. He played youth football with Newell’s Old Boys before moving to Spain at 13 and joining FC Barcelona’s academy. His progression through La Masia eventually took him through Barcelona C and Barcelona B to the senior side. After appearing in a first-team friendly in 2003, Messi made his official Barcelona debut against Espanyol on 16 October 2004, aged 17.
His emergence coincided with a successful period for Barcelona. Lionel Messi was part of the squad that won La Liga and the UEFA Champions League in 2005/06, although injury kept him out of the Champions League final. By the end of the decade, he had become central to the team. Under Pep Guardiola, Barcelona won La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League in 2008/09 before adding the Spanish and European Super Cups and FIFA Club World Cup.
Lionel Messi remained at Barcelona until 2021 and accumulated a remarkable collection of club records. He made 778 competitive first-team appearances and scored 672 goals, both club records when he departed. His 35 trophies with Barcelona included 10 La Liga championships, seven Copas del Rey, four Champions Leagues, three UEFA Super Cups, three FIFA Club World Cups and eight Spanish Super Cups. He scored in the 2009 and 2011 Champions League finals against Manchester United and was also a major figure in the 2014/15 treble-winning team.
Barcelona announced Messi’s departure in August 2021 after the club said financial and structural regulations prevented a new contract from being registered. He subsequently joined Paris Saint-Germain. His two seasons in France brought consecutive Ligue 1 championships, while PSG also won the Trophée des Champions during his time there. He left Paris in 2023 after scoring 32 goals across 75 appearances in all competitions.
Lionel Messi then moved to the United States, signing for Inter Miami CF in July 2023. He made an immediate impact in the Leagues Cup, scoring 10 times in seven matches as Miami won the first trophy in the club’s history. He subsequently captained the side to the 2024 Supporters’ Shield and the 2025 MLS Cup. In September 2026, he reached 100 goals for Inter Miami, achieving the landmark in his 115th appearance for the club. His contract with Miami runs through the 2028 Major League Soccer season.
Lionel Messi’s international career with Argentina began at senior level in 2005. For years, international success proved more elusive than his club achievements: Argentina lost the 2014 World Cup final and Copa América finals in 2007, 2015 and 2016. The sequence changed at the 2021 Copa América, where Argentina defeated Brazil in the final at the Maracanã. Lionel Messi and Argentina followed that victory by winning the 2022 Finalissima against Italy.
The defining international achievement arrived at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Messi scored seven goals during the tournament, including twice in the final against France. After a 3–3 draw, Argentina won the penalty shoot-out 4–2, giving Messi his first senior World Cup title. He received the tournament’s Golden Ball, having also collected the award after Argentina’s run to the 2014 final.
Argentina retained the Copa América in 2024, defeating Colombia in the final. Lionel Messi continued with the national team through the 2026 World Cup, where Argentina again reached the final. He subsequently ended his international career at 39. The Argentine Football Association recorded his final senior international totals as 207 appearances and 125 goals, alongside a World Cup and two Copa América titles.
At club level, Lionel Messi remained captain of Inter Miami in 2026. The club recorded another landmark in September when he scored against Cruz Azul to become the first player in Inter Miami history to reach 100 goals, adding another statistical milestone more than two decades after his professional debut.
