{"id":48987,"date":"2026-04-16T20:49:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T15:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/?p=48987"},"modified":"2026-04-16T20:49:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T15:19:14","slug":"lionel-messi-buys-spanish-third-division-club-ue-cornella","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/football\/lionel-messi-buys-spanish-third-division-club-ue-cornella\/","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi buys Spanish third division club UE Cornell\u00e0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"auto\">In a major development for Spanish football, <strong>Lionel Messi<\/strong> has purchased <strong>UE Cornell\u00e0<\/strong>, a club based in Catalonia, taking full 100% ownership. The news, first broken by reliable transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, marks Messi\u2019s entry into club ownership close to his spiritual football home in Barcelona.<\/p>\n<h3 dir=\"auto\">Messi Returns to Catalonia as Club Owner<\/h3>\n<p dir=\"auto\">The eight-time Ballon d\u2019Or winner and World Cup champion has formalized the acquisition of <strong>Uni\u00f3 Esportiva Cornell\u00e0<\/strong> (UE Cornell\u00e0), a club from Cornell\u00e0 de Llobregat, a municipality in the Barcelona metropolitan area. This move sees Messi become the sole owner of the team currently competing in Spain\u2019s <strong>Tercera Federaci\u00f3n<\/strong> (third division \/ fifth tier of the Spanish football pyramid).<\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\">The deal represents a significant personal and professional step for the Argentine superstar, who spent the majority of his glittering career at nearby <strong>FC Barcelona<\/strong>. Cornell\u00e0 is located just southwest of Barcelona, making it a natural fit for Messi\u2019s deep-rooted connection to Catalan football.<\/p>\n<h3 dir=\"auto\">About UE Cornell\u00e0: History and Background<\/h3>\n<p dir=\"auto\">Founded in 1951 through the merger of local clubs including Club Atl\u00e9tico Padr\u00f3 and Acad\u00e8mia Junyent, UE Cornell\u00e0 has long been a community-focused side in the lower tiers of Spanish football. The club has primarily competed in regional leagues and the fourth or fifth divisions, with a notable promotion to <strong>Segunda Divisi\u00f3n B<\/strong> (third tier) in 2014.<\/p>\n<ul dir=\"auto\">\n<li><strong>Home ground<\/strong>: Municipal stadium in Cornell\u00e0 de Llobregat (capacity around 1,500 for the main pitch, though some matches use nearby facilities).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Colors<\/strong>: Traditionally green and white.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Notable achievement<\/strong>: Winning the Copa Catalunya in 2018 and developing several players who progressed to higher levels.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"auto\">While modest in size compared to giants like Barcelona or Espanyol, the club has a reputation for solid youth development and local pride in the Baix Llobregat area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a major development for Spanish football, Lionel Messi has purchased UE Cornell\u00e0, a club based in Catalonia, taking full\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":217,"featured_media":48988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[5224,4057],"class_list":["post-48987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-lionel-mess","tag-top-stories"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48987"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48989,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48987\/revisions\/48989"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}