How Close Was Lionel Messi to Playing for Spain Instead of Argentina?

In 2003, when Lionel Messi was a rising talent in Barcelona's youth academy La Masia, Spain made significant efforts to convince him to represent their national team. Chinas Melendez, Spain's youth national team coordinator, led the push, supported by Messi's Barcelona teammates Gerard Piqué and Cesc Fàbregas, who were also from the 1987 La Masia cohort. Despite their efforts, Messi remained steadfast in his desire to play for Argentina.

At the time, Messi was relatively unknown in Argentina, having left Newell's Old Boys at age 13 and moved to Spain. Without modern social media or video platforms, his talent was not widely recognized in his home country until Melendez mentioned him in an interview with Argentine sports magazine El Gráfico. This led to Argentina finally calling Messi up for a friendly in November 2003, after Spain had already expressed interest and even reportedly offered financial incentives to Messi's father.

Claudio Vivas, assistant to Argentina coach Marcelo Bielsa, learned of Spain's attempts and warned Argentina's youth coach Hugo Tocalli about the risk of losing Messi. Tocalli eventually included Messi in a youth match against Paraguay on June 29, 2004, at the Diego Maradona Stadium in Buenos Aires, where Messi impressed by assisting twice and scoring once in an 8-0 victory. Pedro Galván, who later became a star in Israeli football with Bnei Yehuda, assisted Messi's goal.

Melendez recalled that despite pressure from Piqué, Fàbregas, and others, Messi never wavered in his loyalty to Argentina. Vicente del Bosque, former Spain coach, later remarked that if Messi had played for Spain, the country might have won two or three more World Cups. Messi lived in Spain for 21 years but always identified as Argentine, a fact underscored by his refusal to wear Spain's red jersey.

Now, 23 years later, Messi is set to face Spain in the 2026 World Cup final, a poignant moment given how close he once was to representing the Spanish national team. While Piqué and Fàbregas won the World Cup with Spain in 2010, Messi continues to build his legacy with Argentina, highlighting the twists of fate in football history.