Lionel Messi is a soccer player, and people call him Leo. He was born in Rosario, Argentina, on June 24, 1987. As a young boy, he tagged along when his two older brothers played soccer with their friends, and at age 8 he was recruited to the youth system of Newell's Old Boys, a club based in Rosario. At age 13, he joined FC Barcelona, and his family moved across the Atlantic to make a new home in Spain. He made his professional debut with Argentina in an August friendly match against Hungary. Messi is left-footed, and as of November 2026 he is listed at 5 feet 7 inches tall.

From a young age Messi stood out at Barcelona because of his vision and his goalscoring ability, and he moved quickly up through the youth teams. He made his first appearance in an official match for Barcelona on October 16, 2004, and on May 1, 2005, he became the youngest player to score a goal for the club. He spent the seasons from 2003 to 2021 at Barcelona and played 778 matches. As of November 2026, he is Barcelona's record goalscorer, with 672 goals, and he is also the all-time top goalscorer in La Liga, with 474 goals in 520 matches. He passed Pele's record for goals at a single club, which stood at 643, and he scored 91 goals in a single calendar year. Messi and Barcelona won 35 trophies during his time at the club, including 10 La Liga titles and the Champions League four times, as of November 2026. He left Barcelona in the summer of 2021.

As of November 2026, Lionel Messi has won the Ballon d'Or eight times, more than any other player. His wins came in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021 and 2023. In October 2023 he won his eighth, succeeding Karim Benzema, and as of 2023 nobody else had won more than five Ballon d'Or awards, according to the record as of November 2026. His 2023 award was the first time a player based in Major League Soccer got that recognition. He has won six European Golden Shoes, as of November 2026, and he was named the best player of the Copa America in 2015 and 2021.

In the 2022 World Cup final, Messi put Argentina ahead 1-0 with a first-half penalty, and it was the first goal or assist he had recorded in a final in his senior Argentina career. Kylian Mbappe scored all three of France's goals, and Messi scored his second goal in the 108th minute, in extra time, to put Argentina ahead 3-2. Argentina won the final after a shootout, and Gonzalo Montiel converted the decisive penalty. At 35 years and 177 days, Messi was the second-oldest man to score in a World Cup final. He inspired Argentina to the 2022 title, as Diego Maradona did in Mexico in 1986. At the 2022 World Cup he scored seven goals and won the Golden Ball as its best player, though seven was not enough for the Golden Boot, because Kylian Mbappe scored eight.

As of November 2026, Messi plays for a team called Inter Miami CF. In 2024 he had a league-leading 36 goal contributions for Inter Miami, 20 goals and 16 assists, as of November 2026, and in his 19 MLS appearances that year he produced a goal or assist in 15 of them. He was named MLS Player of the Matchday six times and Inter Miami CF's 2024 Club MVP, and he became the first Inter Miami player named Landon Donovan MLS MVP. In 2024 Inter Miami won its first Supporters' Shield, with Messi, and set the MLS single-season points record, with 74 points, as of November 2026. Winning the Shield qualified Inter Miami for the new FIFA Club World Cup.

In 2025, Messi had 48 goal contributions in the MLS regular season, 29 goals and 19 assists, as of November 2026. He was both the league's top scorer and its top assist provider, which only Sebastian Giovinco had done before, in 2015 with Toronto FC. Messi received 70.43% of the votes for the 2025 MLS MVP award, and as of November 2026 he had won it in 2024 and 2025, the first player in league history to win it in consecutive seasons. Messi and Inter Miami won the MLS Cup in 2025. In the 2026 season, he won the MLS Golden Boot, with a league-best 26 goals, as of November 2026. In October 2025 he signed a contract extension with Inter Miami through the end of the 2028 MLS season, as of November 2026.

Words to know

• succeeding: coming after
• recognition: an honor
• extension: longer deal
• votes: counted choices