Jorge Messi, the father and longtime agent of Lionel Messi, has died aged 68, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner’s childhood club, Newell’s Old Boys, announced on Saturday.
Argentinian media reported that Jorge Messi died on Friday at a hospital in Rosario.
“His constant companionship and behind-the-scenes leadership were essential in backing every step of Lionel,” Newell’s Old Boys said in a social media post.
Messi’s family had previously asked the media for “humanity” during the recent World Cup amid persistent reports about Jorge’s health.
The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) also offered its condolences to the Messi family.
“On behalf of Spanish football, we wish to convey all our love and affection to Lionel and his loved ones during this time of deep sorrow,” the RFEF said in a statement.
A former metal factory worker, Jorge Messi was his son’s first coach in Argentina. He later accompanied Lionel when the teenager moved to Barcelona and eventually became his agent.
“My father helped me enormously. He is very critical of me. That made me always want to push myself further,” Lionel Messi told DirecTV Sports in 2022.
In 2000, Jorge left behind a stable job in Argentina, his wife and three other children to move to Spain with his 13-year-old son.
“When we arrived in Barcelona, I used to lock myself in my room to cry alone, and my father did the same — either without me seeing him or thinking I didn’t see him. We pretended we were both fine, but we were struggling,” Messi later recalled.
“When things were tough, my father even asked me what I wanted to do, whether I wanted to keep going or go back home. I wanted to continue, so he stayed with me.”
Jorge subsequently finalised his son’s first contract with Barcelona and became his agent and sole representative at the club. He continued in that role during Messi’s spells at Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Miami.
A private man, Jorge Messi rarely gave interviews. But on the few occasions he spoke publicly, he often reflected on his close bond with his son, who is now 39.
“The day Leo stops playing, I think a dream will shatter for me, and I won’t watch football anymore,” he told German magazine Kicker in 2013.
Jorge Messi’s life was not without controversy.
In 2013, Spanish authorities accused Jorge and Lionel Messi of using a network of companies in the UK, Switzerland, Belize and Uruguay between 2007 and 2009 to collect the footballer’s image-rights income and evade Spanish taxes.
The case was resolved in 2017 with multi-million-euro fines.
In 2019, Jorge and Lionel Messi, along with the Leo Messi Foundation, faced further allegations in Spain involving suspected tax offences, fraud and money laundering. The case was dismissed in 2021.
AFP
