Career record
Lionel Messi is a forward, midfielder, born 24 June 1987, listed at 169 cm, and holds Argentina, Spain citizenship. The club record here runs 2003–2023 across 5 clubs, 677 appearances and 569 goals.
The longest stay was FC Barcelona, 17 years from 2004 to 2021 and 520 appearances. FC Barcelona accounts for the most football: 520 appearances of the 677 on record. The best scoring rate came at Inter Miami CF — 62 in 67, a goal every 1.1 games. Across 20 years there were 4 moves, roughly one every 5.0 seasons. At senior international level the record is 207 caps and 125 goals.
| Club | Years | Appearances | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| FC Barcelona C | 2003–2004 | 10 | 5 |
| FC Barcelona Atlètic | 2004–2005 | 22 | 6 |
| FC Barcelona | 2004–2021 | 520 | 474 |
| Paris Saint-Germain FC | 2021–2023 | 58 | 22 |
| Inter Miami CF | 2023 | 67 | 62 |
International record
| Team | Years | Caps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina national under-20 football team | 2004–2005 | 18 | 14 |
| Argentina men's national football team | 2005 | 207 | 125 |
| Argentina national under-23 football team | 2008–2008 | 5 | 2 |
His clubs, in this archive
The archive covers 17 of the seasons Lionel Messi spent at FC Barcelona, 2004/05 to 2020/21. FC Barcelona won the La Liga eleven times in that span and finished in the top four 17 times, averaging 87 points a season. At Paris Saint-Germain FC, 2 covered seasons run 2021/22 to 2022/23, best finish 1st in 2021/22. The single covered season at FC Barcelona C is 2003/04, when they finished 2nd of 20 on 72 points. Those placings are recalculated from the individual results rather than copied from a table, so they can be read against any other club on this site.
| Season | Competition | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| FC Barcelona C, 2003/04 | |||
| 2003/04 | La Liga | 2nd of 20 | 72 |
| FC Barcelona, 2004/05–2020/21 | |||
| 2004/05 | La Liga | 1st of 20 | 84 |
| 2005/06 | La Liga | 1st of 20 | 82 |
| 2006/07 | La Liga | 1st of 20 | 76 |
| 2007/08 | La Liga | 3rd of 20 | 67 |
| 2008/09 | La Liga | 1st of 20 | 87 |
| 2009/10 | La Liga | 1st of 20 | 99 |
| 2010/11 | La Liga | 1st of 20 | 96 |
| 2011/12 | La Liga | 2nd of 20 | 91 |
| 2012/13 | La Liga | 1st of 20 | 100 |
| 2013/14 | La Liga | 2nd of 20 | 87 |
| 2014/15 | La Liga | 1st of 20 | 94 |
| 2015/16 | La Liga | 1st of 20 | 91 |
| 2016/17 | La Liga | 2nd of 20 | 90 |
| 2017/18 | La Liga | 1st of 20 | 93 |
| 2018/19 | La Liga | 1st of 20 | 87 |
| 2019/20 | La Liga | 2nd of 20 | 82 |
| 2020/21 | La Liga | 3rd of 20 | 79 |
| Paris Saint-Germain FC, 2021/22–2022/23 | |||
| 2021/22 | Ligue 1 | 1st of 20 | 86 |
| 2022/23 | Ligue 1 | 1st of 20 | 85 |
Only the seasons this archive holds are listed — it begins in 2000/01 and covers league matches in the five competitions named above, so a career that started earlier or ran through other leagues shows a gap here rather than a blank.
How this page is put together
The career table above is the structured record held on Wikidata under a public-domain licence, read once and cached, not queried while you are reading. The player is bound to that record by date of birth rather than by name: a name search returns the wrong Klose and three different Robinhos, and a page carrying somebody else’s links cannot afford that.
Compare any two clubs he played for with the head-to-head tool, or read the records these seasons feed into.
Frequently asked
When and where was Lionel Messi born?
24 June 1987, and holds Argentina, Spain citizenship.
Which clubs did Lionel Messi play for?
5 on record: FC Barcelona C, FC Barcelona Atlètic, FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain FC, Inter Miami CF.
How many of those seasons are in this archive?
20 of them, at 3 clubs. The archive runs from 2000/01 and covers the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga, so seasons outside that window or in other leagues are not counted.
How long did the career last?
From 2003 to 2023 on the club record here, 20 years across 5 clubs in 2 of the five leagues this archive covers.
Which competitions can this site say anything about?
La Liga, Ligue 1. Those are the ones his clubs played in during the seasons the archive holds; the rest of the career is listed above but has no placings beside it.
Where do these figures come from?
The career record is the structured data held for this player on Wikidata, which is public-domain. The league placings and points beside it are not: those are recalculated here from every individual result in the archive, which is why they can be compared with any other club or season on this site.