{"id":1461,"date":"2020-12-28T18:43:19","date_gmt":"2020-12-28T18:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/south-africa\/?p=1461"},"modified":"2020-12-28T17:30:34","modified_gmt":"2020-12-28T17:30:34","slug":"lionel-messi-not-interested-in-coaching-prefers-sporting-director-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/lionel-messi-not-interested-in-coaching-prefers-sporting-director-role","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi not interested in coaching, prefers sporting director role"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – South-Africa<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>BARCELONA \u2013 Lionel Messi has no plans to become a coach when he retires from playing, saying he is more interested in being a director of football than working in the unforgiving world of football management.<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old Argentine forward has about six months left on his contract with Barcelona and the football world is on tenterhooks over whether he will stay at the club where he has spent the last 20 years or look for a new challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see myself as a coach, perhaps a sporting director to hire players I want or that the club that I\u2019m at needs,\u201d Messi said in an interview with Spanish network La Sexta on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Messi, six-times world player of the year, will wait until the end of the season before making his mind up but said he would like to return to Barca, regardless of what he does next.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to tell the Barca fans that I\u2019m not sure whether I\u2019ll leave or not but hypothetically speaking, I would like to leave in the best way possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to return one day, I would like to return to the city, to work for the club and contribute. I haven\u2019t thought about it too much but it will be something related with football, because that\u2019s what I like and what I know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Messi, who moved to Barca aged 13 and has become their all-time top scorer and most decorated player, acknowledged he had hurt the club\u2019s supporters when he tried to leave last summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cFans will cheer for their player as long as he is at their club but they do not forgive everything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy relationship with the club and the city is a story of love. However it ends, it should not stain what I\u2019ve lived in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reuters<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. BARCELONA \u2013 Lionel Messi has no plans to become a coach when he retires from playing, saying he is more interested in being a director of football than working in the unforgiving world of football management. The 33-year-old Argentine forward has about six months left on his contract with Barcelona and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":1460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,17],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-1461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nLionel Messi not interested in coaching, prefers sporting director role - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"BARCELONA \u2013 Lionel Messi has no plans to become a coach when he retires from playing, saying he is more interested in be ...\" \/>\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\/south-africa\/all-news\/lionel-messi-not-interested-in-coaching-prefers-sporting-director-role\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lionel Messi not interested in coaching, prefers sporting director role\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BARCELONA \u2013 Lionel Messi has no plans to become a coach when he retires from playing, saying he is more interested in be ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/lionel-messi-not-interested-in-coaching-prefers-sporting-director-role\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-28T18:43:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2020\/12\/img-5fea16110eb67.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"366\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/lionel-messi-not-interested-in-coaching-prefers-sporting-director-role#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/lionel-messi-not-interested-in-coaching-prefers-sporting-director-role\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Lionel Messi not interested in coaching, prefers sporting director role\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-28T18:43:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/lionel-messi-not-interested-in-coaching-prefers-sporting-director-role\"},\"wordCount\":327,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/lionel-messi-not-interested-in-coaching-prefers-sporting-director-role#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2020\/12\/img-5fea16110eb67.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/lionel-messi-not-interested-in-coaching-prefers-sporting-director-role#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/lionel-messi-not-interested-in-coaching-prefers-sporting-director-role\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/lionel-messi-not-interested-in-coaching-prefers-sporting-director-role\",\"name\":\"Lionel Messi not interested in coaching, prefers sporting director role - 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