International Football
Messi’s Wife Ex-Boyfriend Speaks Out
Lionel Messi and his just married wife, Antonella Roccuzzo – now Mrs. Messi, were often believed to be long term lovers since both met at age five while growing up in the Argentine city of Rosario.
But an online football publication, 90 min, has disprove the claims, saying that for the record, Messi and Roccuzzo only officially started dating in 2007.
Before then, Antonella is reported to have been dating another person. It reported that it’s never nice to see an ex-girlfriend or boyfriend with someone else; affairs of the heart are a sensitive subject and even though years might have passed, one will always feel a pang of regret when seeing a former partner photographed with their current one.
But that is not the case with Antonella’s former boy friend. The unnamed former boyfriend merely shrugged it off saying: ‘At Least She Left Me for Messi!’ The ex-boyfriend of the Barca star’s wife showed there are no hard feelings.
References are made to a Spanish publication which Sports Village Square later applied Google translator to get the English version
It was a friend of Antonella who revealed the past, even as it was admitted that the couple had know each other when Messi was 10 and the lady was nine.
The translated version has it that “Messi and Antonella met many years ago when they were introduced by her cousin, Luca Scaglia.
“His environment tells that the ten of the Argentine team asked: “Who is?” And Scaglia, almost without paying attention, answered: ‘Anto, my cousin.’
“Leo (Messi) was nine years old and she was eight by then and it was when she wrote him a letter in which she said: “Someday we will be engaged.” Since then they have seen many times in the fifth of the Roccuzzo and spent much time together
Then Messi reportedly travelled to Spain but still remained Antonella’s friend.
“After a while Messi went to Spain to play for FC Barcelona and remained as friends. At that moment, according to the words of her friend, Antonella started dating for years with another boy whose name is unknown but of which there are photographs.
According to Antonella’s friend who told the story, it was on July 20, 2007 that she got to know that Messi was dating Antonella.
Hear her:”La Negra”, as they called Antonella Roccuzzo in Rosario, met on July 20 with his friends to celebrate Friend’s Day in the town of Roldán and it was when they learned that he was dating Leo.
“We are there, as we always are, and she took out the Blackberry (fashionable cell phone back then) that Leo had given her. He did not say much more, but we all understood that they had started to leave, “said the young woman.
Representatives from four national players’ unions on Thursday launched a new global organisation in Madrid, which they say will strengthen footballers’ rights and improve dialogue with governing bodies.
Opening a new front in the battle over who speaks for players, the International Footballers’ Association (AIF) was unveiled, with David Aganzo, president of Spain’s Association of Footballers (AFE) and a former head of the global union FIFPRO, appointed to lead the organisation.
Players’ unions from Brazil, Mexico and Switzerland were also represented.
The initiative drew a swift rebuke from FIFPRO, which said in a statement that Aganzo was acting out of self-interest and aligning himself with organisations linked to football governing bodies, as well as groups expelled from FIFPRO over alleged mismanagement.
Aganzo rejected the criticism, saying he “will not seek confrontation with FIFPRO”.
The launch comes amid strained relations between players’ unions and football authorities, particularly over the expanding international match calendar.
Relations between FIFA and FIFPRO deteriorated in 2024 after the union lodged a complaint with the European Commission, arguing that the global governing body was abusing its dominant position by adding competitions without sufficient consultation.
Aganzo denied suggestions that the new initiative was backed by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, but said “direct dialogue with FIFA” was essential.
AFE’s Extraordinary General Assembly approved the initiative in February with 99.8% of votes cast in favour of spearheading the creation of the AIF.
The same assembly also backed AFE’s withdrawal from FIFPRO, citing what it described as a “complete lack of transparency, as well as its total lack of dialogue with international bodies.”
“We represent over 30,000 footballers, and we come here with a new model aimed at safeguarding players’ rights and facilitating direct communication with all international bodies,” Aganzo told reporters.
“We are in contact with 15 to 20 unions already who were very aware of this moment and waiting for this announcement to make their move and join our initiative.”
He declined to identify any unions beyond those present.
Asked about a report that a senior envoy to U.S. President Donald Trump had urged FIFA to replace Iran with Italy at the upcoming World Cup, Aganzo urged caution.
“These are more political issues; on April 30th, I’ll be speaking to Gianni (Infantino) at the FIFA Congress, and we will discuss those things,” Aganzo said.
“People who want to go to the World Cup have to earn their place on sporting merit.”
-Reuters
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A new trial over the death of Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona will begin on Tuesday, with seven members of his medical team charged with negligent homicide nearly a year after a previous case collapsed in a mistrial.
An enduring presence in Argentina – from towering murals to tattoos, opens new tab – Maradona died on November 25, 2020, at 60, after a heart attack while he was recuperating from brain surgery to remove a blood clot.
A court in San Isidro, near Buenos Aires, will hear testimony from just under 100 witnesses as it tries Maradona’s medical team over alleged negligence in the death of the 1986 World Cup champion.
His medical team has denied wrongdoing. The defendants are psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychologist Carlos Angel Diaz, physician Nancy Edith Forlini, nurse Ricardo Almiron, head nurse Mariano Ariel Perroni, and physician Pedro Pablo Di Spagna. An eighth defendant, nurse Dahiana Madrid, will be tried in a separate jury trial, with no date yet set.
Two months into the first trial, which started last March, a mistrial was declared when one of three judges, Julieta Makintach, resigned after video surfaced showing her being interviewed by a camera crew in the corridors of the courthouse and in her office as part of a documentary, in breach of judicial rules.
The retrial will require both prosecutors and defense lawyers to reassess their strategies after the first trial aired photographs, videos, audio recordings and forensic evidence. Many witnesses, including Maradona’s children and his former wife, Claudia Villafane, have already testified.
Prosecutors argued in the initial trial that medical professionals broke treatment protocols and that the home where Maradona was recovering from surgery amounted to a “theatre of horror,” where necessary care was not provided.
The defense countered that his death was inevitable given his longstanding health problems. Maradona struggled for decades with cocaine and alcohol addiction.
The negligence charges emerged in 2021 after prosecutors appointed a medical board to investigate Maradona’s death. The panel concluded his medical team acted in an “inappropriate, deficient and reckless” manner.
-Reuters
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Aliou Cisse has been named coach of the Angola national team, the country’s football federation (FAF) announced on Thursday, 24 hours after the Senegalese left his post in Libya.
The 50-year-old coach, who led Senegal to their maiden Africa Cup of Nations title in 2022, ended his short stint with the Libyan national team on Wednesday, after taking charge in March 2025.
“Welcome, Aliou Cisse, head coach of the Angola national team,” the FAF said on Facebook. Angola, which failed to reach this year’s World Cup, will start their 2027 AFCON qualifying campaign in September.
-Reuters
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