Lionel Messi has reached an agreement in principle to buy CD Eldense, a second-division Spanish football club, with the club announcing it on Wednesda
Lionel Messi has reached an agreement in principle to buy CD Eldense, a second-division Spanish football club, with the club announcing it on Wednesday.
He is picking up 100% of the shares from Colombian investment group TH Soluciones Group S.A.S., which would make him the majority owner and eventually the sole owner down the line.
Eldense mentioned the deal still needs to clear final legal and contractual stuff, including due diligence, plus they need the thumbs-up from Spain’s High Council for Sports (CSD).
Nobody can confirm exactly when this will wrap up, but Spanish reports are floating the idea that an announcement could happen pretty soon.
This is actually Messi’s second investment into Spanish football. He grabbed a 100% stake in fifth-division Cornellà back in April, and once Eldense is done, he’ll have ownership in Uruguay’s Deportivo LSM, Argentina’s Leones de Rosario FC, and Inter Miami too, plus he co-owns KRÜ Esports with Sergio Agüero.
Eldense is located in Elda, which is in Alicante, and the club has incredibly worked its way up to the second tier after spending time in regional divisions.
They actually dropped to the third division in 2024 but bounced back up to the second tier in May.
The purchase throws an interesting wrinkle into Spanish football, since Messi’s perennial rival Cristiano Ronaldo picked up a 25% stake in Segunda División club UD Almería back in February through his CR7 Sports Investments outfit.
Both Messi and Ronaldo have ownership pieces in Spain’s second tier, which is a massive boost for Spanish football.
Eldense is sitting pretty low in the standings right now, and Messi’s got his hands tied when it comes to spending big on new players because Spain’s got tough salary cap rules for lower-division clubs.
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