Lionel Messi Set to Become Owner of Eldense Football Club

Lionel Messi is preparing to swap the penalty area for the boardroom in Spanish football.

According to Spanish daily Marca, the Argentine icon has reached a preliminary agreement to buy Eldense, a recently promoted Segunda División club based in Elda, in the province of Alicante. If the deal is finalised, it will mark his formal entry into the world of Spanish professional club ownership.

This is not a one-off move. It follows his purchase earlier this year of Cornellà, a Catalan third-division side, and points to a clear strategy: build a business footprint in Spanish football while remaining anchored to the sport that defined his career.

Full control, clear intent

Messi is set to acquire 100% of Eldense’s shares, with no third-party investors involved. The plan, as framed around the deal, is straightforward: channel his football legacy back into the game itself, using clubs as long-term projects rather than short-term speculation.

Eldense, fresh from promotion to the second tier, offers a different profile to Cornellà. The club sits geographically close to Catalonia, where Messi intends to settle once his playing days at Inter Miami come to an end. The move would keep him physically and emotionally connected to Spanish football, even as his on-pitch career winds down across the Atlantic.

Completion of the takeover is expected in the coming days. Final legal and contractual details still need to be tied up, including financial due diligence. The operation also requires the green light from Spain’s National Sports Council, a mandatory step for ownership changes at this level.

A club used to change

Eldense is no stranger to new owners. In October 2015, an international investment group with Colombian roots, led by businessman Juan Carlos Trujillo, bought the club from Pascual Pérez. That deal was meant to modernise and stabilise the institution.

More recently, rumours swirled around another potential buyer. Argentine businessman Ricardo Beni had been linked with a takeover worth around 12 million euros, a figure that underlined Eldense’s rising value after its sporting progress. Those whispers faded. Now Messi’s name has surged back into the spotlight, this time attached to a concrete, advanced agreement rather than distant speculation.

Turmoil on the pitch

While the boardroom prepares for a superstar arrival, the team itself is struggling.

Eldense dismissed coach Claudio Barragán last Monday, making him the first managerial casualty of the Segunda División season. The decision came after a dismal start: just two points from four league matches and a side still searching for its identity at a higher level.

No replacement has been appointed yet. The dugout sits empty, the squad waits, and the timing is striking. A club in sporting crisis could soon be owned by one of the greatest players in football history.

If the deal is ratified and Messi steps in as owner, Eldense will not only gain a new president figure. It will gain a global brand, a magnet for attention and expectations. The question is simple, and it will define the next chapter in Elda: can Messi’s vision off the pitch rescue a project already under pressure on it?