Ask most casual fans where Lionel Messi started, and they’ll instantly shout "Barcelona!" or maybe mention the legendary La Masia academy. It makes sense. He spent twenty years there, won everything under the sun, and became a literal god in Catalonia.
But if you’re looking for the real answer to what was messi's first club, you have to travel much further back than the Camp Nou. You have to go to the dusty, neighborhood pitches of Rosario, Argentina.
Before the Champions League trophies and the eight Ballons d'Or, Messi was just a tiny kid who could barely be seen over a regulation-sized football. Honestly, his start in the game wasn't even at a professional academy. It was at a small, local neighborhood club called Abanderado Grandoli.
The Grandoli Years: Where the Legend Actually Started
Most people ignore Grandoli because it’s not a "big" name. It’s a modest community club.
Leo was only four years old when he started playing there in 1991. His dad, Jorge, was actually a coach at the club, but the person who really pushed for him to play was his grandmother, Celia.
There’s a famous story—and this is a real one, not some internet myth—where Grandoli was short a player for a match. Grandma Celia started badgering the coach to put Leo in. The coach was hesitant because the kid was so small he looked like he’d get snapped in half.
Celia won the argument. Leo went on, scored two goals, and the rest is history. That’s actually why he looks up and points to the sky after every goal today; it's a tribute to Celia, who passed away before she could see him become a global icon.
He played at Grandoli until about 1994. It wasn't about tactics or "systems" back then. It was just a kid and a ball that was almost as big as his head.
Moving to the Big Time (Rosario Style)
By the time he was six, it was obvious he was too good for neighborhood kickabouts. In 1994, he made the jump to Newell’s Old Boys.
Now, this is a massive club. In Rosario, you’re either a Newell’s fan or a Rosario Central fan. There is no middle ground. Messi was a lifelong Newell’s supporter, so joining their youth setup was a dream.
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He became part of a legendary youth team known as "The Machine of '87" (named after the year they were all born). They basically never lost. Between 1994 and 1999, Messi played nearly 180 games for Newell's youth sides and scored over 230 goals.
Think about that for a second. That's a goal every 60 minutes or so for six straight years.
Why He Didn't Stay at Newell's
This is where things got complicated. When Leo was 10, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency. He was tiny.
Newell’s initially agreed to help pay for his treatment, which was about $1,000 a month—a fortune for a working-class family in Argentina during an economic crisis. Eventually, the club backed out. They couldn't or wouldn't keep up the payments.
River Plate, one of the biggest clubs in South America, gave him a trial. They loved him. But they also balked at the medical bills.
That’s the only reason Barcelona even got a look-in. If Newell’s had just paid for those injections, Messi might have spent his whole career in Argentina.
What Was Messi's First Club: The Professional Debut
While Grandoli and Newell's were his "first" clubs in terms of childhood, his official professional journey is 100% tied to FC Barcelona.
He arrived in Spain in 2000. He was 13.
The story of his first "contract" being signed on a paper napkin at a tennis club is actually true. Charly Rexach, the Barca sporting director at the time, was so desperate to lock him down before the family flew back to Argentina that he grabbed the only paper he could find.
The Rapid Rise Through the Ranks
Once his medical issues were sorted and he got his clearance to play, he tore through the Barcelona youth categories like a whirlwind.
- Infantil B & A: He was dominant here.
- Cadete B & A: He played with Cesc Fàbregas and Gerard Piqué.
- Barça C and Barça B: He was skipping levels every few months.
He finally made his unofficial first-team debut in a friendly against Porto in November 2003. He was only 16. His official La Liga debut came a year later, in October 2004, against Espanyol.
Looking Back at the Roots
It’s easy to look at Messi now—living in Miami, winning World Cups, and being a billionaire—and forget those dusty pitches in Rosario.
Grandoli gave him the love for the game.
Newell's gave him the technical foundation.
Barcelona gave him the platform (and the medicine) to become the GOAT.
If you're a student of the game, don't just watch his highlights at PSG or Inter Miami. Look up the grainy footage of the "Machine of '87." You can see the same drop of the shoulder and that weird, magnetic way the ball sticks to his left foot even when he was seven years old.
What You Should Do Next
If you want to really understand the Messi origin story, here are a few things worth checking out:
- Watch the "Machine of '87" clips: They are all over YouTube. Seeing a tiny Messi weave through five kids in a Newell's jersey is surreal.
- Visit Rosario (if you're a super fan): You can actually visit the Grandoli club. It’s a pilgrimage for football purists.
- Read "Messi" by Guillem Balagué: It’s arguably the most detailed account of his early years and the medical struggles he faced.
The reality is that what was messi's first club depends on how you define "club." But for the people of Rosario, he'll always be the kid from Grandoli who conquered the world.