Lionel Messi is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club FC Barcelona and is captain of the Argentina National team.

Messi helped Argentina win the 2005 Fifa U-20 World Cup where he also finished as both the best player and top scorer with six goals. In 2008, he won an Olympic Gold Medal with the Argentine Olympic football team. Messi became the only player to score in 21 different cities in the European Cup, and also became the first footballer ever to score consecutively against all teams in a professional league.

At the 2014 World Cup, he led Argentina to the final, winning four consecutive Man of the Match awards and recieving the Ballons d'Or or Golden Ball award as the best player of the tournament. Messi is the first football player in history to win four FIFA/Ballons d'Or, and the first to win three European Golden Show awards.

Outside of his prominent football career, Messi established the Leo Messi Foundation, a charity supporting access to education and health care for vulnerable children.