Lionel Messi Age: How Old Is the Football Legend Today?

Lionel Messi Age? As of 4th November 2026, Messi is 39 years old. He was born on 24th June 1987 and will turn 40 on 24th June 2027.

To be precise, Messi is currently 39 years old and around 4 months old. It is rare to find someone of such a high level as an attacking player to be so old. Most players lose their pace in their early 30s, but Messi is still playing regularly in Major League Soccer.

In this article, I will answer the question of how old Messi is. Then I will answer the most common search for most people: Where is he from? What is his background? How many goals has he scored? And what are his stats in the Champions League?

Table of Contents

Messi’s Age at a Glance

Detail	Fact
Full name	Lionel Andrés Messi
Date of birth	June 24, 1987
Birthplace	Rosario, Santa Fe Province, Argentina
Age on November 4, 2026	39 years, 4 months
Next birthday	40th, on June 24, 2027
Height	About 170 cm (5 ft 7 in)
Preferred foot	Left
Current club	Inter Miami (MLS)
National team	Argentina

Cancer. He was born towards the end of June, meaning his birthday is during the middle of the off-season for football across the Northern Hemisphere. This means any headlines about Messi turning 38 during 2026 will be outdated by the time they are released.

How to Work Out Messi’s Age Yourself

While searching “Messi age” is okay, the following calculation will help if you need to work out his age for a quiz, school project, or caption.

Take the current year and subtract 1987.
If today’s date is before the 24th June, subtract an extra year.
If it is on or after the 24th June, leave the number.

For example, if we were to do this on 4th November 2026 (2026-1987 = 39), as his birthday has already passed this year, he would be 39.

A common error is to just take away the years, so any time in the first half of the year would give you an answer that is 1 year too old.

Where Is Lionel Messi From?

Messi was born in Rosario, a big city on the Paraná River in Santa Fe Province, Argentina. Rosario is known as a footballing city. It is the hometown of fierce rivals Newell’s Old Boys and Rosario Central. Messi was brought up as a Newell’s fan.

Messi is an Argentine international. His family has Italian heritage, which is common in Argentina, meaning he has previously been able to be a citizen of Europe. However, his football career has always been based around Rosario and playing for his country.

In one line, if asked to describe the soccer player Messi, you could say, ‘A left-footed forward from Rosario, Argentina who played his first 2 decades with Barcelona’.

The Background of Messi: From Rosario to La Masia

It is more interesting to understand how old Messi is based on what he has done at each point in his life. As his career wasn’t straightforward, understanding his early life is key.

Early Life & Growth Issues

Messi started playing organised football at a young age and was put into Newell’s Old Boys’ youth academy. However, at about the age of 10, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency. This was costly to treat, and the family struggled to pay for it.

Move to Barcelona

Barcelona offered to help pay for his treatment. The family moved to Spain when he was 13. Messi joined their youth academy ‘La Masia’. There is a famous story about how he signed his first contract on a napkin with the current sporting director Carles Rexach. Whilst there are slight differences in versions of the story, it should be viewed more as part of their folklore.

First Team Debut

Messi made his senior debut for Barcelona in 2004. He scored his first senior goal in 2005, aged just 17, in a game against Albacete. He was now a known name in Spain just months later. By the late 2000s, he was one of the best players in the world.

After Barcelona

Messi left Barcelona in 2021 as they couldn’t offer him a new contract due to financial issues. He went to Paris Saint-Germain and won Ligue 1 with them over 2 seasons. In 2023, he moved to Inter Miami in MLS. Since then, he has won the Leagues Cup (2023) and MLS Cup (2025). He also signed a contract extension in October 2025, running until 2028.

Messi’s Age at Key Moments

One of the best ways to appreciate a career is to line up age with achievements. Here is what he had done at some key ages.

17: Scored his first senior goal for Barcelona.
18: Won his first Champions League with Barcelona (2006), although an injury kept him out of the final.
21: Scored in the 2009 Champions League final win over Manchester United.
23: Scored again in the 2011 final against the same opponent.
27: Won his fourth Champions League with Barcelona (2015).
34: Won the Copa América with Argentina (2021), his first major senior international trophy.
35: Won the World Cup in Qatar (2022).
36: Won the Copa América again (2024).
38: Won the MLS Cup with Inter Miami (2025).

The pattern is clear. He won the biggest club prizes in his twenties and the biggest national team prizes in his thirties, which is almost the reverse of how most careers go.

How Many Goals Did Messi Make?

Here are some stats.

Messi scored his 900th goal for club and country on March 18, 2026, in a CONCACAF Champions Cup game against Nashville. He has kept scoring, meaning that he now has more than 900 goals. See a live source for the true total.

Barcelona:

Around 672 goals in around 778 games. The highest number of goals he has scored.

Paris Saint-Germain:

32 goals.

Inter Miami:

Dozens of goals in the MLS and cups. More every year.

Argentina:

Over 110 goals internationally, a record for Argentinian players. He only plays for his country in certain windows, so the total is very slow to increase.

Some records to note:

Most goals in La Liga (474).
Second most goals in Champions League history behind Cristiano Ronaldo (129).
Most Ballon d’Or wins (8).

A few notes to consider when looking up how many career goals Messi has.

Career goals can be counted in various ways. Some people may want to count only official competitive games whilst others would include friendly games. Different websites will be updated at different times, and some will have slightly different totals. If there is a difference in goals between sources, it is usually down to a rule in how they are being counted.

How Many Champions Leagues Has Messi Won?

Messi has won the UEFA Champions League four times, all with Barcelona:

2005/06, beating Arsenal in Paris. Messi was injured and did not play in the final.
2008/09, beating Manchester United in Rome. Messi scored with a header.
2010/11, beating Manchester United at Wembley. Messi scored.
2014/15, beating Juventus in Berlin. This was the third part of a treble that season, alongside La Liga and the Copa del Rey.

He did not win the competition during his two years at PSG, and Inter Miami does not play in it because MLS clubs are in a different continental system. His Miami side competes in the CONCACAF Champions Cup instead, which is a separate tournament and should not be confused with the UEFA version.

This is a common point of confusion in search results, because “Champions League” and “Champions Cup” look similar. If you are comparing players, count only the UEFA competition.

Why Messi’s Age Matters in Football Terms

Speed: For a long time, Messi’s play style was never based around being fast but was instead about keeping a good balance between different aspects such as tight dribbling and decision-making. This has allowed him to adapt well as he has aged. He has started to make fewer high-intensity sprints than he did during his 20s, along with saving energy when his team isn’t in possession.

Position: During his prime with Barcelona, Messi was an attacking player who dribbled and scored. However, as he has gotten older, he has become a playmaker, getting into deeper positions to create chances. This means he has very high assist numbers. (39).

League: MLS is commonly known to be less physical than the top leagues in Europe. This means older players will have more space to play in. This is one reason why he has been producing high amounts of stats in MLS.

Rotations: At this age, most clubs will look to rotate players. Messi has missed some games to give himself a break or due to small issues. This is normal for a player of his age and doesn’t mean he is in decline.

Messi and Ronaldo: A Quick Age Comparison

The two players are often searched together. Cristiano Ronaldo was born on the 5th of February 1985, meaning he is around 2 years and 4 months older than Messi. Both players have gone well into their late 30s, which is not common. Over the course of their careers, Ronaldo has more goals than Messi (according to the sources I have checked), but Messi has more assists. However, the exact amount is constantly changing, so it would be worth looking up a live tracker.

Common Mistakes When Searching for Messi’s Age

Trusting old articles. Many pages still say “38”. Check the date of any page you read.
Mixing up birth year and age. Messi was born in 1987. He is not “born 1986” or “born 1988”, although both errors appear online.
Confusing his age with his career length. He debuted in 2004, so he has been a professional for over twenty years. That is not the same as his age.
Counting friendlies and competitive goals together without saying so. This is the main reason goal totals differ between websites.

Will Messi Retire Soon?

No one outside of Messi’s inner circle can be sure; however, we do know from publicly available information that his contract at Inter Miami was extended in October 2025 to 2028. This indicates that Messi will be continuing to play in club football for the next couple of seasons. However, his international future is still unclear. There has been lots of news about his plans for Argentina surrounding the 2026 World Cup. If this is important to you, then we recommend checking the latest report from the Football Association of Argentina or a trusted news source.

Final Thought

While Messi is a very old player, Messi age will be 39 in November 2026; his age is only really significant when put into context. Having scored his first senior goal while still a teenager in Spain, he has already had an incredible career, winning the World Cup aged 35. He continues to play a regular role for his team in his late thirties. Few players in the history of the game have retained such influence.