Football keeps the status of the most loved game for a reason. It contains beauty, emotion, and business. The last decade of the 20th century saw the rise of capitalism in football. Europe became a treasure island for football geniuses. The rapid growth of football to become a global game impressively widened its market. Players became wealthier, and faces of international brands as well. They entered new businesses and real estate apart from the profession. Above all, A-list players established themselves as brands. They became products to be sold and be bought.
Recently, the football world got stirred by the epic transfer of Lionel Messi’s to French giant Paris Saint Germain. It’s time for Messi to reunite with Neymar and play alongside other chief players of the world. PSG started selling ‘Messi 30’ jerseys immediately after the deal was made official on Tuesday night. And incredibly the website sold out the personalized kits in just 30 minutes. The transfer of Messi made big news too, and revealed his enormous revenue and business ventures. He has brands in his name; lifelong sponsors and businesses, and above all, Lionel Andres Messi has established himself as a brand.
According to Forbes, Messi is the highest-paid soccer player in the world. Over the past calendar year, Messi has earned a whopping $ 126 million overall with $92 million coming from his salary and $32 million from endorsement deals. The business of Lionel Andres Messi extends from a clothing line to big-scale partnerships. As a player, he has conquered the football world, and as a businessman, he utilizes his stardom to flourish his business. Messi keeps a low profile compared to other players, and his private life is always a mystery. However, it’s known that Messi has investments in real estate, hotels, clothing lines, and global brands.
Business Man Messi!
Since 2017, Messi has owned the MiM hotel chain. In 2017 Messi spent £26m on the Hotel MiM Sitges, which has a charming coastal view. The hotel has a Sky Bar that boasts panoramic views of the coastal town of Sitges and the Mediterranean Sea, along with a saltwater pool, and a first-class spa as well. The luxurious hotel has a panoramic terrace to watch the whole city from a single spot
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The Messi Store is another business venture of one of the greatest soccer players of all time that successfully makes use of the brand value of Messi. The store opened at the heart of Barcelona to sell premium clothes in the brand name of Messi. His sister Maria Sol Messi acts as its brand manager and Ginny Hilfiger brings valuable global design expertise from her long career developing for top apparel brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and FILA. The store has a wide range of clothing from T-shirts to hoodies with Messi’s logo on them. The Messi Store celebrates the unforgettable moments of the player. The online store of TMS helped the brand to reach customers and fans of other countries.
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Lionel Messi is the Brand
Many brands depend on Messi to boost their market. Budweiser stands prominent among the companies, for its remarkable marketing activation. The famous beer brand Budweiser 0.0 celebrated the 644th goal of Messi for a single club by sending beer bottles to 120 goalkeepers, who experienced the wrath of Messi on the field. It was a unique marketing method, for the brand sent customized beer bottles for each of Messi’s goals to the goalkeepers the Barcelona forward has scored against. In one of its tweets of Budweiser, the account says that “King recognize Kings.” Budweiser used the brand value of Messi to market their beers wider, and as a result, the company turned out as a favorite to a large number of Messi fans.
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Adidas, in 2017, got Messi to sign a lifetime contract that rakes in over $12m each year. After signing the extended contract deal with Adidas, he became the first football player to release a sub-brand of Adidas boots. That is another instance where Messi becomes a businessman. The
agreement with Adidas helped Messi to become the highest-paid athlete during the period 2017-19. Pepsi is another company that used Messi’s fame and skills to boost its product’s reach and reliability. Messi’s presence in their advertisements has increased the trustworthiness of aforesaid companies. The marketing strategies of Adidas, Budweiser, Pepsi, MasterCard, and so on rely mostly on Messi when a football tournament commences. Through the player, these companies have made an impact on football fans. Recently, Budweiser released a tribute video to Messi for his epic career in Barcelona. The video ends with Lionel Messi drinking Budweiser beer.
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Messi’s name on the poster is enough to make a brand reliable. In the Amazon original series The Boys, superheroes market a product for a high price. In the real world, football stars have that global status. They are the Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, for they can create a brand, protect its trustworthiness and destroy the whole market if needed (Coca-Cola experienced the heat of it through Ronaldo). Messi has become a most valuable brand name and any companies that need to expand their market use him brilliantly. Also, Messi is aware of the power he possesses. He started as a teenage footballer, climbed the career as G.O.A.T, and uses his value to expand his businesses. Messi is the business, indeed!
