Does Lionel Messi have dual citizenship, is a Spanish citizen?
Is Lionel Messi a citizen of Spain?
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Lionel Messi is a citizen of Spain and Argentina. (Image credits: Marca)
The Argentine star player Lionel Messi has spent almost all his time in Spain playing for Barcelona. The player joined the club when he was a teenager and said goodbye to the Catalan giants in 2021. But during his entire spell at Barcelona winning countless titles and trophies, he also gained citizenship in the country.
Lionel Messi was born and brought up in Argentina. The 35-year-old is a citizen of the country despite being in Spain for most of the time. Due to this, Messi is a naturalized Spanish citizen, as well as an Argentine.
Lionel Messi received the citizenship of Spain back in 2005. Messi applied for citizenship because back in those days each club could only have three non-Spanish players in their whole squad according to the rules of La Liga. So to continue playing for Barcelona, Messi became a citizen of Spain. However, Messi’s citizenship also helped Barcelona as the club could bring more non-Spanish to the squad.
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Lionel Messi was detained by Chinese police officers at the Beijing airport
Lionel Messi recently traveled to China from his private jet with Angle Di Mara and some friends where he was detained by the Chinese police at the Beijing airport. The Argentine player visited China to lead his team in an international friendly against Australia on June 15.
Messi was detained by the police for not having his Argentine passport with him. As per reports, the player had his Spanish passport because of this the police officers were confused and stopped Messi from leaving the airport.
It was reported that the Argentine believed that he could travel to Taiwan on his Spanish passport so he thought it would be valid for China also. As per reports Messi in curiosity, asked, “Is Taiwan, not China?”
The player was kept waiting for two hours by the Chinese police before he was finally given the green light for departing the airport. As per reports, this was Messi’s seventh visit to China. The player visited this country back in 2008 to win the gold medal for his country in the Olympics.
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Arpan Ghosh
(1403 Articles Published)