Introduction : Lionel Messi
Lionel Andrés Messi born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint – Germain and captains the Argentina national team.
The Lionel Messi ’s Education in Argentina
Millions of people migrated to the country from Italy and Spain in particular for the high quality of life and vibrant economy.
Ironically around a century later the Messi family would make the trip the opposite way and by this time the country they were leaving was not the strength it once had been.
Much of this was blamed on political instability and a problematic education system.
That has been addressed in recent decades and many believe the country will eventually regain its position as an economic powerhouse in the decades to come.
When it comes to education, children in Argentina start school at the age of 6. They are in primary school from the age of 6 to 11 and then secondary school from the age of 11 to 17.
Little is known of Messi’s school life in Argentina, but he did attend Escuela Nº 66 General Las Heras, located in the Santa Fe province of Rosario not far from where he lived.
By all accounts, Messi was an average student, and the only comment I could find on his early schooling was a quote from a teacher who said of Messi: “He was a quiet child, but he always came with a ball. He looked something different when he went to recess and played the ball.”
However quite understandably his old school is hugely proud of their most famous pupil.
In 2015 they unveiled a huge mural of Messi in his Argentina shirt that measured 40 square metres and took almost 400 gallons of paint to create.
It covers the entire face of one of the school’s walls.
Watch video on you tube – Click on it !
Messi ’s Education in Spain
Very soon after Messi finished primary school his family relocated to Barcelona and he joined Barcelona’s famed La Masia.
La Masia is the name of Barcelona’s football training facilities and it includes accommodation and education spaces as well.
It was here Messi attended Leon XIII School – the school every La Masia resident attended. He later recounted his time there saying:
“As soon as I arrived in Barcelona, I started training. I didn’t sleep at La Masia, but I went to Leon XIII (an elementary school) where all the kids from other cities were studying at. I spent every afternoon with those kids… They also knew what it was like to be far away from their families and friends.”
Messi was in the same year as Cesc Fabregas and Gerard Pique.
Julio Jesus de Dios Moreno, who was in the same youth team as them, remembers Fabregas as “the class swot and ‘pretty good at school’, but admits: “Studying was the last thing anyone wanted to do. We had to achieve decent marks; otherwise, the coaches wouldn’t let us play matches on Saturday mornings.”
Years later in an interview with a Chinese TV company, Messi simply said he had a high school education level and that he spent more time in class each week than at football training.
By the time Messi was 16 he had made his first-team debut, by the time he was 17 he had scored his first Barcelona goal and on his 18th birthday, he signed his first contract as a senior player with a €150 million buyout clause.
Did Lionel Messi Study in Bangladesh?
Somehow a rumour has started that Messi went to school in Narayanganj, a city in the centre of Bangladesh.
This is most definitely NOT true! Messi only ever studied in Argentina and Spain.
The first instance I could find of Messi going to Bangladesh came in 2011 when Argentina played a friendly against Nigeria in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. A video above shows more details of this.
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