Lionel Messi's Bold Move into Spanish Football Ownership
Lionel Messi is preparing to swap the pitch for the boardroom in Spain – and not just as a symbolic figurehead.
According to Spanish daily Marca, the Argentine has reached a preliminary agreement to buy Eldense, a club newly promoted to the Segunda División and based in Elda, in the province of Alicante. If the deal is finalised, Messi would assume full control of the club’s shares, with no third-party partners involved.
From Cornellà to Eldense
This move would mark Messi’s second major step into Spanish club ownership in a matter of months. Earlier this year he acquired Cornellà, a Catalan third-division side, laying down his first serious roots as a businessman in Spanish football.
Eldense represents a bolder leap. The club operates in the professional ranks, in a region not far from Catalonia, where Messi plans to settle once his playing days at Inter Miami are over. The project is driven by a clear idea: to reinvest part of his football legacy back into the game itself, through clubs that can grow under his name and backing.
Completion of the Eldense takeover is expected in the coming days, once the final legal and contractual checks are completed, including financial due diligence. The deal still requires approval from Spain’s National Sports Council, a mandatory step for changes of control at professional clubs.
A club in flux, on and off the pitch
Eldense is no stranger to ownership changes. The club last changed hands in October 2015, when an international investment group with Colombian roots, led by businessman Juan Carlos Trujillo, bought it from Pascual Pérez. In recent months, reports had linked Argentine investor Ricardo Beni with a possible takeover worth around 12 million euros.
Those rumours have now been eclipsed by a far bigger name. Messi’s arrival on the scene has shifted the conversation, and his potential purchase has surged to the forefront of Spanish football’s business landscape.
On the pitch, though, the reality is far less glamorous. Eldense have endured a grim start to life in the second division. The club collected just two points from their opening four league matches, a run that cost coach Claudio Barragán his job last Monday – the first managerial casualty of the Segunda season. A replacement has yet to be appointed.
So Eldense stand at a crossroads: a struggling team, a vacant dugout, and the looming prospect of one of the greatest players in history stepping in as owner. If the signatures land where they are supposed to, Messi will not just be watching Spanish football’s next chapter. He will be writing part of it himself.
