Jorge Messi, father of football icon Lionel Messi, dies at 68

Jorge Messi, the father of Lionel Messi, died at 68 in Argentina, closing a chapter that began long before the world's stadiums ever learned his son's name. He was the first believer — the man who saw something extraordinary in a boy from Rosario and bent his family's entire world toward nurturing it. Behind every record broken and every trophy lifted, Jorge stood as the quiet foundation, a reminder that greatness is rarely self-made. His passing places the human story of sacrifice and devotion at the center of a legacy the world has long celebrated only in goals.