Recently a claim has spread on various social media outlets, titled “Breaking News. Leo Messi bought his boyhood club Newells old boys, Now he is new owner of his childhood club.”
Few posts published on Facebook of such are linked here, here, here, here, and here. Archived versions of the posts are here, here, here, here, and here.
Factcheck
According to the rumor scanner’s investigation, It is not true that Lionel Messi bought his childhood club “New Wales Old Boys” rather the information has been spreading on social media without any reliable source.
Origin of this rumor
On August 03, 2022; a Twitter account named ‘Información Real De Fútbol‘ tweeted a tweet titled “Lionel Messi buys Newells Old Boys (translated)” in Spanish. After this tweet, the information spread widely on social media.
Later, the Spanish tweet was translated and circulated widely in Bangladeshi facebook users.
However, through research; no information on this matter was found on the official Twitter account and website of New Wales Old Boys.
Also, according to Argentina Football Federation rules, the country’s clubs cannot be owned by a single individual. Clubs are owned by fans and members who pay monthly fees to clubs.
Basically, an information titled “Lionel Messi’s boyhood club New Wales Old Boys bought” has been circulating on social media without any reliable sources.
Also, no such news was found in any international or local media in Argentina.
So, the claim that Messi has bought his boyhood club New Wales Football Club is false.
Sources
Club Official website: https://www.newellsoldboys.com.ar/
Club Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/newells?
News about club ownership: https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer-argentina-idUKKCN1MT00J
https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer-argentina-idUKKCN1MX38O
