Lionel Messi, fully Lionel Andres Messi, also known as Leo Messi, (born June 24, 1987, in Rosario, Argentina), is an Argentinian-born footballer who has been named FIFA World Player of the Year five times (2009 -12 and 2015).
Messi started playing football as a boy and in 1995 joined the youth team of Newell's Old Boys (a first-class football club based in Rosario). Messi's formidable skills have caught the attention of prestigious clubs on both sides of the Atlantic. At the age of 13, Messi and his family moved to Barcelona and started playing for FC Barcelona's U-14 team. He scored 21 goals in 14 appearances for the junior team and quickly graduated to top-level teams even at the age of 16, winning his first unofficial match with FC Barcelona in a friendly.
In the 2004-05 season, the then 17-year-old Messi became the youngest official player and goalscorer in the Spanish League (the country's highest football league). Although he was 5 feet 7 inches (1.7 m) tall and weighed 148 pounds (67 kg), he was strong, balanced, and versatile on the court. Messi was inherently left-handed, quick, and precise in control of the ball, Messi was a powerful pass distributor and could easily work his way through stacked defenses. In 2005 he acquired Spanish nationality, an honor that was greeted with mixed feelings by fierce Barcelona supporters. The following year, Messi and Barcelona won the Champions League (European Club Championship).
Messi's game has continued to improve rapidly over the years, and in 2008 he was one of the most dominant players in the world, finishing second after Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo in the world player's vote. FIFA year 2008. In early 2009, Messi concluded an impressive 2008-09 season A by helping Barcelona win the club's first 'treble' (winning three major European titles in one season): the team won the Spanish League, the Copa del Rey (Spanish Grand Prix) and the UEFA Champions League Title. He scored 38 goals in 51 games that season and beat Ronaldo for the FIFA World Player of the Year by a record difference. In the 2009-10 season, Messi scored 34 goals in domestic matches and Barcelona also repeated as La Liga champions. He won the Golden Boot as Europe's top scorer and was named the 2010 FIFA World Player of the Year (the award was renamed FIFA Ballon d'Or that year).
Messi led Barcelona to victory in the Spanish League and Champions League titles the following season, helping him win the FIFA World Player of the Year award for the third time in a row. In March 2012, he scored his 233rd goal for Barcelona, becoming the club's all-time top scorer in La Liga when he was just 24 years old. He finished the 2011-12 season for Barcelona (which included another Copa del Rey victory) with 73 goals in all competitions, breaking Gerd Muller's 39-year record for goals in a season in a major European football league. His historic season earned him the title of 2012 FIFA World Player of the Year, making Messi the first player to win the honor on four occasions. His 46 La Liga goals in 2012-13 led the league and Barcelona have won another domestic league this season. In 2014, he set Barcelona's overall goal record by scoring his 370th goal as a team member. The same year, he also broke goal records for playing in the Champions League (with 72 goals) and La Liga (with 253 goals). Messi helped Barcelona achieve another hat-trick in the 2014-15 season, leading the team in scoring 43 goals during the campaign, earning him honor as the fifth player in the world of the year. He scored 41 goals in all competitions for Barcelona in 2015-16, and the club won La Liga and Copa del Rey titles in that season. Messi led this with 53 goals for Barcelona in 2016-17 and led the team to another Copa del Rey title. In 2017-18, he scored 45 goals and Barcelona won their La Liga and Copa del Rey brace again. Messi scored 51 goals in all domestic competitions in 2018-19 as Barcelona won another league championship. In December 2019, he won his sixth Ballon d'Or.
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