Messi Charity

 

In 2007 messi founded a charity called the Leo Messi Foundation to help vulnerable children get health care and eductation. As a result of Messi himself having medical difficulties as a child he has also offered argentine children diagnosed with illnesses medical care in spain and pays for all travel expenses to the country. The year of 2011 also seen Messi named as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF for supporting childrens rights. He also gave £600,000 to the refurbishment of a childrens hospital in his hometown of Rosario, Argentina as well  paying for the doctors to travel to Barcelona for training.

Last year Messi offered to pay the medical bills of a young 12 year old boy who suffers from a growth hormone deficiency which Messi himself suffered from as a boy. The boys dreams of becoming a proffesional football player had been shattered until the Barcelona star offered to pay for his medical costs until he turned 18. He also sent the boy a message encouraging him to be strong, GHD affects around 1 in 3800 births. Many people overlook football players to be greedy and self-centred but they don’t go to the bother of looking what the players do behind the scenes with Messi being a prime example although he is 1 of many doing charity work.  Messi’s net yearly salary is said to hit around 110 million euros to which he gives a considerable amount to charity.

Below is a question to Messi in an article from TotalBarca.Com

An adidas campaign is coming up, your Foundation has set up a children’s park for sick children at the Valle Hebron Hospital in Barcelona and it sponsors an exchange programme between doctors in Barcelona and your hometown Rosario. What can you tell us about these projects?
“I don’t know the details yet, but the adidas thing will be more focused on South America. There are children who suffer from exploitation and need all our support to be able to get an education, so that once they’re adults they have a chance in life. The doctor idea came from my dad: we’re going to give a grant to several doctors to enable them to finish their training here (in Barcelona). That way they can go back and put what they’ve learnt into practice in our homeland. And the park project is something important that we want to extend to other centres too. A Christmas visit we made to the hospital had a huge impact on me, that’s where the idea came from and a lot of people have got involved. Thank God, a lot of projects are coming to fruition.”

Typical of Messi’s way of looking at life despite all his wealth is the question he was next asked by the reporter –

This charitable streak is a characteristic you share with your good friend Ronaldinho, who is also known for his charity work with children.

 “There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing a happy and smiling child. I always help in any way I can, even if it’s just by signing an autograph. A child’s smile is worth more than all the money in the world.”

 

 

 

Lionel Andres Messi is an Argentine footballer who plays for Barcelona FC in spain as an attacker and also has captaincy for his national team. Remarkably by a very young age of just 21 Messi revieved his first Ballon D'Or award along with FIFA player of the year awards. This first Ballon D'or award would start of a run of 4 consecutive years (2009,2010,2011 and 2012). He has broke multiple records with him beating the all time goal scoring record in a calendar year with a total of 91 goals surpassing football legends of such as Pele and Gerd Muller.

 

Messi's style of play has been compared to that of the well known Diego Maradonna also an argentine national and a legend of the game. Despite lacking the height of most players this more than has it's advantages allowing them to possess a lower centering gravity making them more agile and able to change direction much quicker than your average football player. Messi has short yet powerful legs which give him a frightening burst over speed over the first few metres but he also has the ability to sprint long distances at a very fast pace especially with the ball at his feet, running at almost full speed Messi is capable to keeping the ball very close to himself whilst dribbling which makes it so difficult for oppostion players to take the ball off him. It's almost as if the ball is glued to his feet while his is dribbling, many great players have been recognised for their excellent ball control and touch but in my opinion none come close to the ball control of Messi. One thing I must mention about his way of playing the game is that he plays the game fairly and out of pure enjoyment, always with a smile on his face and rarely if ever reacts badly to poor tackles on him which are a very occuring thing due to opponents frustration at his mind-blowing ability. A demonstration of his fair play and love of the game can be seen in Adidas's new advert starring Messi himself which I have posted the link of below entitled PLAY THE MESSI WAY sending out a signal to all young aspiring football players that this is how the game should most definitely be played. "WE'RE KEEPING THE GAME BEAUTIFUL".. the video shows all the ways in which to keep the sport as exciting as possible for spectators as well as for the players themselves, no-one wants to see players cheating the ref and Messi promotes keeping the game beautiful.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9zjwmDHE3Y - "PLAY THE MESSI WAY"

 

To conclude in my opinion Lionel Messi is the greatest player to ever bless the game of football achieving so much at such a young age.

 

Created By "Nicholas Garrity".