Jorge Messi, father and lifelong architect of Lionel’s career, dies at 68

By Breaking Belize News Staff ( HP): Jorge Messi, the father of Argentina captain Lionel Messi and the man who guided every step of the greatest career in football history, died Saturday at a hospital in Rosario, Argentina. He was 68.

Club Atlético Newell’s Old Boys, the Rosario club where both father and son once played in the youth ranks, announced his death, saying he had undergone treatment in recent months for an unspecified illness. The club described him as “the pillar and the person who, with vision, rigor and affection, supported the career of the best player of all time, alongside his wife, Celia Cuccittini.”

The announcement casts the recent World Cup in a new and poignant light. After scoring against Algeria in Argentina’s opening match, Messi was visibly emotional, later saying he wept for “a reason unrelated to sports” and that he had endured “difficult, complicated days.” Media speculation at the time drew a sharp statement from the Messi family confirming that Jorge was experiencing a health issue, while insisting that “a person’s health and the peace of mind of their loved ones should not be the subject of speculation.” Messi went on to captain Argentina to the final, where they finished runners-up to Spain, before returning home to rest.

A chemical technician and former steelworker, Jorge Messi played as a midfielder in Newell’s youth system before military service ended his own football path. His life’s work became his son’s. He traveled with a young Lionel to Barcelona in the early 2000s for the trial that opened La Masia’s doors, negotiated the contracts with Barcelona and the later moves to Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Miami, and managed his son’s business affairs throughout.

Lionel Messi himself once described what those early days cost them both. “Sometimes I would lock myself in my room to cry when we arrived in Barcelona, or my dad would do the same without me seeing him,” he said in 2007. “My dad even asked me what I wanted to do when we were feeling down, if I wanted to stay or go back, and I wanted to stay, and he stayed with me.”

Tributes flowed Saturday. CONMEBOL offered condolences “with respect and affection for Lionel,” and Argentine federation president Claudio Tapia honoured Jorge “for having raised a person of values: humble, respectful, and deeply committed to others.” The federation ordered a moment of silence at all matches across every category of Argentine football, with players, referees and coaching staff to wear black armbands.

Jorge Messi is survived by his wife Celia and their children. Breaking Belize News extends condolences to the Messi family.

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