22 exclusive Messi Facts.

• Lionel Andres Messi plays in La Liga for FC Barcelona.
• He is the captain of the Argentina national team.
• At the age of 21 years, he received Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations.
• He won the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year in 2009.
• He won the inaugural FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2010 and 2011.
• Because of his playing style, he is drawn comparisions with Diego Maradona.
• He is the third player (after Gerd Muller and Jean-Pierre Papin) to top-score in three successive European Champion Clubs' Cup campaigns.
• In 2004, he was offered the chance to play for the Spanish national U-20 team.
• He made his full international debut in 2005 against Hungary at the age of 18.
• At the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, he won an Olympic gold medal with the Argentina Olympic football team.
• In March 2010, France Football ranked him at the top of its list of the world's richest footballers.
• In 2010, he was announced a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF.
• In September 2012, he became the global brand ambassador of Turkish Airlines.
• In April 2011, he launched a Facebook page and within a few hours, his page had attracted more than six million followers.
• His Facebook page has over 33 million followers as of March 2012.
• He celebrated scoring his 23rd goal for Argentina, by placing the ball under his jersey, as his girlfriend is reportedly 12 weeks pregnant.
• He has two cousins also involved in football: Maxi, a winger for Club Olimpia of Paraguay, and Emanuel Biancucchi, who plays as a midfielder for Paraguay's Independiente F.B.C.
• In 2007, he established the Leo Messi Foundation, a charity supporting access to education and health care for vulnerable children.
• In March 2010, France Football ranked him at the top of its list of the world's richest footballers, ahead of David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo.