Messi's humanitarian excellence convinced the jury of the Princess of Asturias Award


The act of the 2026 Princess of Asturias Sports Award leaves no doubt. The player with the most titles in history enters the hall of one of the most prestigious awards in sport not only for his goals, his talent on the field and his prominent place among the greatest players of all time. The Princess of Asturias Foundation always highlights something more, a social and humanitarian legacy that transforms the winner into an example that goes beyond sporting success. And Messi, as mentioned in the act, has been developing for years “formidable and continuous solidarity work to promote access to education and health care for the most disadvantaged children”. “I hope that my story will help many children to continue dreaming, with work and love for sport, knowing that the most important thing is to try to be a good person and respect the values ​​that sport teaches us”, said Leo in his thanks to the Princess of Asturias Sports Foundation. These are not empty words. Messi has helped for years with donations and initiatives, through his foundation, to disadvantaged sectors, with children as the main beneficiaries of actions that are often not publicized. In 2022, Leo launched a major personal project, the largest children's cancer center in Spain, the SJD Pediatric Cancer Center at Hospital de Sant Joan de Déu, to serve teenagers with cancer and their families. A project in which he collaborated through the Leo Messi Foundation, which required an investment of more than 37 million euros, the majority of which came from founding donors, including the Argentine. Also through the Messi Foundation, Leo collaborated with the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) through an agreement that helps to develop activities both to maintain databases and to support clinical trials in the Pediatric Oncology and Hematology Service of the Hospital de Vall d’Hebron. A commitment that began with the creation of a children's playground located in Plaza Messi, in front of the Vall d’Hebron Children's Hospital in Barcelona. His foundation financed the construction of this space, a games area to improve the stay and recovery of children and teenagers admitted to the Barcelona hospital. His social involvement led him, during the Covid pandemic, to donate one million euros to fight against the coronavirus, an amount that was divided between the Barcelona Clinical Hospital and another medical center in his hometown, Rosario, and which helped acquire material to improve care for the large number of patients that the pandemic generated more than five years ago. It is known, although little has been publicly disclosed, that he donated another million euros after the tragic and devastating DANA in Valencia and that he carried out similar actions to help after floods in Argentina. His social conscience has transformed the Leo Messi Foundation into an active collaborator with UNICEF through initiatives such as donating 200,000 euros to a project in Kenya for clean water, toilets and nutritional supplements. The former Barça player has been a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF since 2010, who publicly thanked his foundation for its commitment to investing in health services to improve the lives of the most disadvantaged children.