Lionel Messi Set to Become Owner of CD Eldense

Lionel Messi is set to become the outright owner of CD Eldense, stepping into Spanish football not as a player, but as a club boss.

According to reports in Spain, the Inter Miami star has reached an agreement in principle to buy 100 per cent of the Segunda Division side’s shares, with no external partners involved. The deal now sits in the hands of Spain’s Higher Sports Council (CSD), which is expected to formally ratify the takeover in the coming days once the due diligence process is signed off.

A new power base in Alicante

Eldense, based in Elda in the province of Alicante, has already lived through one major ownership shift in recent years. An international investment group led by businessman Juan Carlos Trujillo took control after buying the club from Pascual Perez in October 2025.

That project is now on the verge of being swept aside by one of the biggest names the sport has ever known.

Argentine investor Ricardo Pini had been pushing hard with a proposed €12 million offer and looked well-placed to take charge. Then Messi entered the frame. His sudden appearance at the negotiating table changed the dynamic instantly, pushing Pini’s bid into the background and putting the Barcelona legend on course to own the historic Elda club, tucked not far from Catalonia.

The Messi family’s growing empire

This is no one-off vanity purchase. It is another deliberate step in a rapidly expanding football portfolio.

Earlier this year, the Messi family completed the acquisition of UE Cornella, a Spanish fifth-tier side with a strong record of youth development. The move was seen as a foothold in the Spanish pyramid. Now Eldense, already in the Segunda Division, offers a far bigger competitive platform.

Messi has also teamed up with close friend Luis Suarez to buy Uruguayan outfit Deportivo LSM, extending their reach into South American football. The family’s influence stretches further still at Lions FC, where his brother Matias serves as club president, underlining a clear shift from simply playing the game to shaping it.

Piece by piece, the Messis are building a network of clubs across different levels and countries, with Eldense poised to become the most high-profile asset in that structure.

Turbulence on the pitch

While the boardroom prepares for a superstar arrival, life on the pitch has been anything but glamorous.

Eldense parted company with head coach Claudio Barragan after a miserable start to the season, collecting just two points from their opening four matches. The dismissal has left the dugout empty at a time when the team is already glancing nervously at the wrong end of the Segunda Division table.

The hierarchy now faces a race to appoint a new head coach capable of steadying results and matching the ambition of the incoming ownership. Every dropped point tightens the pressure.

That is where Messi’s takeover could bite hardest and quickest. Fresh capital, a clearer long-term vision, and the pulling power of his name give Eldense a platform they have never had before. The expectation inside the club will be that those advantages translate into better recruitment, stronger infrastructure, and a more coherent sporting project.

The question is no longer whether Lionel Messi will own a professional club in Spain’s second tier. It is how far he intends to take it.