From a young age Messi stood out at Barcelona because of his vision and his goalscoring ability, and he moved quickly up through the club's youth teams. On May 1, 2005, he became the youngest player to score a goal for Barcelona. He spent the seasons from 2003 to 2021 at the club, and in 21 years at Barcelona he won 10 La Liga titles, four Champions Leagues and seven Spanish Cups. He played 778 matches, and as of November 2026 he is Barcelona's record goalscorer, with 672 goals, and 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, as of November 2026. Messi and Barcelona won 35 trophies during his time at the club, as of November 2026.

Messi left Barcelona in the summer of 2021 and made his debut for Paris Saint-Germain on August 29, 2021, scoring his first goal that September. In 75 matches for the club, he scored 32 goals and gave 35 assists, and he won two Ligue 1 titles with Paris Saint-Germain. He reached 700 club goals in Paris Saint-Germain's 3-0 win against Marseille on 26 February 2023. His two-year contract with the club ended in early June 2023 and was not renewed. Barcelona offered to bring Messi back in June 2023, according to a statement from the club, but in June 2023 Messi said he intended to join Inter Miami after leaving Paris Saint-Germain. In October 2023 he won his eighth Ballon d'Or, succeeding Karim Benzema, and it was the first time a player based in Major League Soccer got that recognition. As of 2023, nobody else had won more than five, according to the record as of November 2026.

As of November 2026, Messi plays for a team called Inter Miami CF. In 2024 he had a league-leading 36 goal contributions for the club, 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 the club for the new FIFA Club World Cup. As of November 2026, Messi had won the MLS Most Valuable Player award in 2024 and 2025, the first player in league history to win it in consecutive seasons.

In 2025, Messi had 48 goal contributions in the MLS regular season, 29 goals and 19 assists, as of November 2026, and he received 70.43% of the votes for the 2025 MLS MVP award. 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. In October 2025 he signed a contract extension with Inter Miami through the end of the 2028 MLS season, as of November 2026. In the 2026 season, he won the MLS Golden Boot, with a league-best 26 goals, as of November 2026.

With Argentina, Messi won Olympic gold in 2008, when Argentina beat Nigeria 1-0 in the final and defended its Olympic football title. His pass helped set up the winning goal by Angel Di Maria. The 2021 Copa America was Messi's first title with the senior national team, and in the final at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro the winning goal came in the 22nd minute. Argentina won the Copa America again in 2024, beating Colombia 1-0, with Lautaro Martinez scoring the only goal, and won a record 16th Copa America title, as of November 2026. As of November 2026, Messi is the player with the most matches in the history of the Copa America.

In the 2022 World Cup final, Messi put Argentina ahead 1-0 with a first-half penalty, 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 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 scored seven goals at the tournament, which was not enough for the Golden Boot because Mbappe scored eight, and he was named the best player of the 2022 World Cup and won the Golden Ball. Messi inspired Argentina to the 2022 title, as Diego Maradona did in Mexico in 1986.

Words to know

• Champions: the winners
• debut: first match
• renewed: made longer
• extension: longer deal
• assists: setup passes