ONE TOUCH SUMMARY
- Messi has reached a preliminary agreement to take over Spanish second division side Eldense, a source confirmed.
- Eldense would be Messi's second Spanish club after fifth-division Cornellà, and his first professional investment.
- The Eldense takeover still requires due diligence and approval from Spain's National Sports Council.
ONE TOUCH INSIGHT
Messi isn't collecting clubs, he's building a ladder. Cornellà gave him the academy end; Eldense gives him the professional one — a Segunda side at the Nuevo Pepico Amat, 5,776 seats, and the first Spanish club he'd own above semi-professional level.
The wrinkle is regulatory. The RFEF is unlikely to sanction two clubs in the same division with Messi as majority shareholder of both, which caps how far Cornellà can climb before the two operations collide. Three divisions separate them today. That gap is the buffer, and it narrows with every Cornellà promotion.
Eldense is also a fixer-upper, not a trophy asset. Four games, no wins, Claudio Barragán sacked this week, no manager in place, and the deal still needs due diligence plus CSD approval — with current owners Grupo TH holding clubs in Colombia and Switzerland. Buying low in Segunda is a sporting project, and it starts with a dugout.
Messi, 39, is also part of Uruguay's Deportivo LSM alongside Suárez, so this is a portfolio, not a hobby. Nothing completes until a coach is appointed at Elda and the CSD signs off. That appointment is the real first decision of his ownership.
WHY IT MATTERS
Messi's step from semi-professional Cornellà to a professional second-tier club shifts him from symbolic investment to genuine sporting control, and tests RFEF rules on owning two clubs in one league system.
TACTICAL FIT
Eldense are managerless after Claudio Barragán's sacking and winless in four games, so the ownership change raises immediate questions over coaching appointment, recruitment and a promotion push at Nuevo Pepico Amat.
THE DEBATE
Should an active player own a professional club in the same league system?
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Inter Miami CF forward Lionel Messi has reached a preliminary agreement to take over Spanish second division side Eldense, a source confirmed to ESPN.
Eldense are currently owned by the Colombian investment group Grupo TH, who also have clubs in Colombia and Switzerland.
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The deal is still subject to completion of due diligence and the required approval from Spain's National Sports Council (CSD).
If finalised, Eldense would become the second club to be owned by Barcelona and Argentina legend Messi in Spain.
Earlier this year, it was confirmed that he had bought fifth-division team Cornellà, who are based in Barcelona.
Eldense, however, would become the first professional club in the country in which he has invested -- Cornellà remain semi-professional.
Messi, 39, is also partially involved alongside Miami teammate Luis Suárez in Uruguay side Deportivo LSM.
Ownership of Eldense and Cornellà is unlikely to pose problems in the immediate future with the two teams separated by three divisions.
It would remain to be seen, though, whether it will limit Messi's ambitions with Cornellà, given the Royal Spanish Football Federation [RFEF] would be unlikely to allow both teams to compete in the same division should Messi be the majority shareholder of both.
Eldense, founded in 1921, have spent most of their history outside the top two divisions of Spanish football.
They were promoted to the second tier for the first time since 1964 in 2023, relegated in 2025 and returned again this past summer.
After failing to win any of their four games so far this season, coach Claudio Barragán was sacked earlier this week, leaving the club without a manager.
Eldense play their home games at the Nuevo Pepico Amat, a modest 5,776-capacity stadium in the city of Elda.
AI-assisted · generated from ESPN FC reporting, not editor reviewed
