Rosario, Argentina), Argentine-born football (football ) player who was appointed Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) world player of the year five times (2009--12 and 2015).
Lionel Messi started playing soccer as a boy and in 1995 joined the youth group of Newell's Old Boys (a Rosario-based top-division soccer club). Messi's phenomenal skills garnered the attention of prestigious clubs on each side of the Atlantic.
At age 13 Messi and his family relocated to Barcelona, and he began playing with FC Barcelona's under-14 team. He scored 21 goals in 14 matches for the junior team, and he graduated via the higher-level teams until at age 16 he had been given his casual debut with FC Barcelona in a friendly match.
Though just 5 feet 7 inches (1.7 meters) tall and weighing 148 lbs (67 kg), he was strong, well-balanced, and versatile in the area. Obviously left-footed, quick, and exact in control of the ball, Messi was a keen pass distributor and may readily thread his way through packed defenses.
In 2005 he had been granted Spanish citizenship, an honor greeted with mixed feelings from the Catalan supporters of Barcelona. The next year Messi and Barcelona won the Champions League (the European team championship) title.
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