Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi is an Argentine professional footballer whose two-decade career has produced eight Ballon d'Or awards (the most by any footballer in football history) and his 2022 FIFA World Cup victory with the Argentina national football team — making him one of the most-decorated football players in international football history. He was born Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini on June 24, 1987, in Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina, into a working-class Argentine Italian-Catalan-Spanish-emigrant family. His father Jorge Messi was a Rosario-area steel-factory manager, and his mother Celia Cuccittini was a part-time cleaner. He was diagnosed with a growth-hormone deficiency at age 11, which produced his 2000 emigration to Spain (under FC Barcelona's medical-treatment-and-development sponsorship).

His 2000 signing with the FC Barcelona youth academy La Masia at age 13 — across which the FC Barcelona youth-academy administration paid for his ongoing growth-hormone treatment, in exchange for his commitment to FC Barcelona — launched his early-career Spanish football public profile. His October 16, 2004 first FC Barcelona first-team appearance — at age 17, against RCD Espanyol — launched his 2004–2021 17-year FC Barcelona career.

His 2008–2009 first Ballon d'Or award — at age 22, after his 2008–2009 FC Barcelona season produced the Catalan football club's first treble (La Liga, Copa del Rey, and UEFA Champions League championships in a single season) — launched his late-2000s and 2010s international football public profile. His subsequent six consecutive Ballon d'Or awards across 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, and 2019 (and his subsequent 2021 and 2023 Ballon d'Or awards) produced his international football public profile.

His August 8, 2021 transfer from FC Barcelona to French Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain — produced by FC Barcelona's late-2021 financial inability to renew Messi's expiring contract — launched his 2021–2023 Paris Saint-Germain career. His July 21, 2023 transfer from Paris Saint-Germain to American Major League Soccer club Inter Miami CF launched his 2023–present American MLS career. His December 18, 2022 FIFA World Cup victory with the Argentina national football team — across the December 18, 2022 World Cup Final 3–3 (4–2 after-penalties) victory over France — produced his international football public profile. He has been with Argentine homemaker Antonela Roccuzzo since 2008 (married 2017), and the couple has three sons.

His name Lionel derives from the medieval Latin Leo meaning "young lion." Lionel has been a popular American boys' name across the late 20th century.