Messi Agrees Deal To Buy Second Spanish Club, Eldense
Lionel Messi is closing in on majority ownership of Segunda Division side CD Eldense, five months after buying fifth-tier Cornella.
Messi Set For Second Spanish Club In A Year
Spanish second-division club CD Eldense has confirmed that Lionel Messi has an agreement in principle to take over as majority owner, buying the full stake currently held by Colombian investment group TH Soluciones Group SAS, which took control of the club last October. Eldense said the move still needs to clear final legal and contractual steps, including due diligence and sign-off from Spain's High Council for Sports, and could not confirm a firm completion date, though Spanish media reported on Tuesday that a deal could be finalised within days.
Second Club, First In A Professional League
This would mark Messi's second investment in Spanish football this year. He bought fifth-tier UE Cornella, based in Barcelona, back in April, though that club remains semi-professional. Eldense, based in the town of Elda in the Valencia region, would give him his first stake in a club that plays in a fully professional Spanish league. The 105-year-old side have spent most of their history bouncing between the second and third divisions and various regional leagues, and were reportedly close to folding around the turn of the century before eventually working their way back up to the Segunda Division. They currently sit 20th in this season's table and play home games at a 5,776-seat stadium.
Part Of A Growing Business Portfolio
Eldense would add to a wider set of football and business interests for the 39-year-old Messi, who retired from international football with Argentina earlier this month. His family has also founded a club in Argentina called Leones, he holds a stake in a Uruguayan club alongside former Barcelona teammate Luis Suarez, and he has an option to take a stake in Inter Miami, his current club, once his playing career there ends. Outside football, his reported investments include a real estate trust listed in Spain, a venture capital fund in the United States, and a stake in an Argentine restaurant chain. Those holdings have helped put him among a small group of active athletes estimated to be worth more than 1 billion dollars, a group that also includes long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who owns Spanish club Almeria.
Photo: CC-BY-SA-4.0Photos by Bryan Berlin