{"id":55863,"date":"2026-04-17T16:05:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T16:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/lionel-messi-purchases-ue-cornella-in-surprise-move"},"modified":"2026-04-17T16:53:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T16:53:33","slug":"lionel-messi-purchases-ue-cornella-in-surprise-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/lionel-messi-purchases-ue-cornella-in-surprise-move","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi Purchases UE Cornell\u00e0 in Surprise Move"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Eritrea. <\/strong> <\/span><b>Lionel Messi has taken a major step off the pitch by officially acquiring UE Cornella\u0300, a Catalan side currently competing in the lower divisions of Spanish football. The announcement confirms the Argentine star\u2019s growing involvement in football ownership, following a trend among top players investing in clubs.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>This move also strengthens his long-standing connection with the Barcelona region, where he built his legendary career.<\/p>\n<p>In its official statement, the club highlighted the significance of this acquisition. In the middle of the announcement, UE Cornella\u0300 stated, <b>\u201cThis initiative reinforces the close ties that unite Messi with Barcelona as well as his commitment to the development of sport and local talent in Catalonia,\u201d<\/b> underlining the player\u2019s ambition to support grassroots football and nurture future talents. The club has a reputation for developing players who have gone on to succeed at higher levels, making it an ideal project for long-term growth.<\/p>\n<p>This new chapter reflects a broader vision from the eight-time Ballon d\u2019Or winner, who now looks beyond his playing career. By investing in youth development and local structures, he positions himself as a key figure in shaping the future of the sport. The project could quickly gain attention and credibility, especially with his global influence now tied to UE Cornella\u0300.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Eritrea<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Eritrea. Lionel Messi has taken a major step off the pitch by officially acquiring UE Cornella\u0300, a Catalan side currently competing in the lower divisions of Spanish football. The announcement confirms the Argentine star\u2019s growing involvement in football ownership, following a trend among top players investing in clubs. This move also strengthens his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":55862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[233],"class_list":["post-55863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-eritrea"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lionel Messi Purchases UE Cornell\u00e0 in Surprise Move - Eritrea<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Eritrea. Lionel Messi has taken a maj ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/lionel-messi-purchases-ue-cornella-in-surprise-move\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lionel Messi Purchases UE Cornell\u00e0 in Surprise Move\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Eritrea. 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