Leo Messi, a living sports legend
A fighter on the football field and in life, the FC Barcelona striker’s list of victories and honors is growing longer by the day. A portrait of a champion who doesn’t hesitate to commit himself on behalf of youth in need.
At barely 23 years of age, Leo Messi is considered one of the best footballers of all time. It’s a status that no one will argue with, given the achievements he has racked up as a member of FC Barcelona – the mythical club for which the striker has played since he was a teenager. After winning all of football’s major individual titles in 2009, including the Ballon d’Or, he continued in the same manner in 2010, winning the prestigious award for the second year running. And looking at the victories he has notched up with the Catalan club so far this year, all indications are that this incredible athlete’s career is not going to end any time soon.
But Messi, a native of Rosairo in the Santa Fe province of Argentina, doesn’t just settle for collecting football accolades. Since 2007 he has been particularly active in his Fundacion Leo Messi, which works to provide destitute children with access to education and health care. It’s a theme that is close to the heart of Barcelona’s number 10: as a child, Messi suffered from a hormonal condition that seriously affected his growth. A handicap that didn’t prevent him from moving up the ranks in his sport to become the star he is today. And his philanthropic activities on behalf of children don’t stop there; since March 2010 he has been one of UNICEF’s Goodwill Ambassadors. It’s a job that lets him return frequently to his native Argentina, where youth poverty is a persistent problem.
Off the football field, the peerless dribbler admits a deep love for his native country and his family, from which his busy schedule often requires him to stay too far away. For despite his planetary success, this unassuming champion knows how to keep his feet on the ground: he confides that he appreciates simple pleasures, like the Argentinian dishes cooked by his mother and a round of PES 2011 video game match between friends…
It’s thus as much for his personal as for his professional qualities that Audemars Piguet is pleased to be in partnership with an athlete who was able to overcome with enthusiasm the difficulties life set in his path. It’s an alliance based on the mutual admiration of a brand and a sportsman, both motivated by the same sense of challenge.
