By JKNewsMedia
JORGE MESSI, the father and agent of football star Lionel Messi, has died aged 68, his son’s childhood club Newell’s Old Boys announced on Saturday.
JKNewsMedia.com reports that Argentinian media reported that Jorge Messi died on Friday night at a medical clinic in Rosario after a long illness.
The footballer’s family confirmed his death to the Reuters news agency.
Jorge spent his final months alternating between a medical centre in Rosario and his home, accompanied by his wife Celia and his children Rodrigo, Matias and Maria Sol, the family said.
Newell’s Old Boys paid tribute to Jorge, highlighting his role in supporting Lionel throughout his career.
“His constant companionship and behind-the-scenes leadership were essential in backing every step of Lionel,” the club said in a social media post.
The Spanish Football Federation also sent 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 federation said in a statement.
A former metal factory worker, Jorge was Lionel’s first coach in Argentina and accompanied his son when he moved to Barcelona as a child before later becoming his agent.
In 2000, Jorge left his 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,” Lionel later said.
“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 with the Spanish club, later representing him at Paris Saint-Germain and in Miami.
Lionel has repeatedly spoken about the influence his father had on his career.
“My father helped me enormously. He is very critical of me. That made me always want to push myself further,” Messi told DirecTV Sports in 2022.
“I always needed my dad’s approval, ever since I was a kid. After every match, I’d ask him what he thought of how I played,” he previously said.
Jorge, a private man who rarely gave interviews, once spoke of his close bond with his son.
“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.
His life was also marked by legal controversy. In 2013, Spanish authorities accused Jorge and Lionel of using a network of companies across the UK, Switzerland, Belize and Uruguay between 2007 and 2009 to collect the footballer’s image rights and evade Spanish taxes.
The case was resolved in 2017 following multi-million-euro fines.
In 2019, Jorge and Lionel, along with the Leo Messi Foundation, faced new allegations in Spain involving suspected tax offences, fraud and money laundering. The second case was dismissed in 2021.
Messi’s family had previously asked the media for “humanity” during the recent World Cup amid persistent rumours over Jorge’s health.
During the World Cup, Lionel experienced mixed emotions after scoring a hat-trick in the opening match against Algeria, breaking down in tears while celebrating his first goal.
At a news conference, Messi explained that his tears were due to “something unrelated to football” after going through “a few difficult, complicated days”.
Days later, the family issued a statement about Jorge’s “health situation”, informing the public that he was undergoing medical treatment.
Lionel later spent time with his father after the World Cup before rejoining Inter Miami, for whom he returned to action a week ago.
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