At 38 years old, he has been at the top of the game for a very long time. In a few days, he will lead Argentina into the World Cup as captain and reigning world champion. And even a figure as monumental as Messi recognises that women’s football is no longer something to overlook. That is why he has decided to enter the space himself and build something from the ground up.
On April 16th, Messi purchased UE Cornella, a club playing in the regional Segunda Catalana, roughly the seventh tier of Spanish football, with ambitions of gradually climbing toward La Liga. On its own, that would not be especially unusual. Many footballers of his stature own smaller clubs: Kylian Mbappe owns SM Caen, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a part-owner of Swedish side Hammarby.
Messi has also decided to establish a women’s team, something the club had previously lacked. And his ambitions for it are just as high: to reach Liga F, Spain’s top division. For now, the league is dominated by his beloved Barcelona, home to many of the biggest names in women’s football. Barca’s biggest star, Alexia Putellas, however, recently left the club after 14 years.
The prospect of Messi’s club one day challenging Barca at the highest level would make for a fascinating storyline in Spanish women’s football.
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Similar ambitions can be seen in the Frauen-Bundesliga project at Borussia Dortmund. Dortmund’s women’s team was founded only in 2020 and has climbed the pyramid season after season. The club recently received a major boost with the arrival of Alexandra Popp after 14 years at Wolfsburg, as well as Ralf Kellermann, who spent the last two decades at Wolfsburg working as a scout, coach, sporting director, and head of the women’s department.
Kellermann turned Wolfsburg into a European powerhouse, winning Bundesliga titles, a record eleven domestic cups, and two Champions League trophies in 2013 and 2014. Together with coach Thomas Hogner, his task at Dortmund is to establish professional structures capable of reaching the Bundesliga. His next challenge is now clear.
But back to the Argentinian king. Messi has not yet revealed what kind of signings or investments he is planning for his club. Union Cornella is already scouting youth players across Catalonia, while the women’s team will initially operate at amateur level with plans for gradual professionalisation and investment into infrastructure. It is therefore very likely that Messi’s new club is producing talent similar to that of Aitana Bonmati, a three-time Ballon d’Or winner.
But the very fact that Messi is investing in and building a women’s team speaks volumes. For him, women’s football is clearly not something to be pushed aside or treated as secondary.
The Men’s World Cup kicks off in a few days, and the peak of women’s football will take place in Brazil next summer. At Queenballers.com, you can find out everything you need to know about women’s football.