ORGULLO HISPANO – HISPANIC PRIDE – LIONEL ANDRÉS MESSI:
He was born on June 24, 1987 in Rosario, Argentina and is often considered the best player in the world and regarded as one of the greatest of all time.
Messi was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency as a child. At age 13, he relocated to Spain to join Barcelona, who agreed to pay for his medical treatment.
Messi made his competitive debut at 17 in October 2004 and has spent his entire professional career with Barcelona, where he has won numerous championships. At 22 years old, Messi won the Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year award by record voting margins.
Throughout his career, Messi has been involved in charitable efforts aimed at vulnerable children, a commitment that stems in part from the medical difficulties he faced in his own childhood.
Messi has served as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador since 2010 and his first field mission was to travel to Haiti to bring public awareness to the plight of the country’s children in the wake of the huge earthquake that year.
In 2007, Messi founded the Leo Messi Foundation which supports access to health care, education, and sport for children. It was established following a visit Messi paid to a hospital for terminally ill children in Boston, an experience that resonated with him to the point that he decided to reinvest part of his earnings into society. Through his foundation, Messi has awarded research grants, financed medical training, and invested in the development of medical centers and projects in Argentina, Spain, and elsewhere in the world.
