The facts for your kid being the next Messi

September 2000  

A young 13-year-old Messi set foot in Barcelona for the first time. In the same year, there were 83,801 other registered children in the U13 category in Spain who fantasized about the same idea as him: occupying the position of Ronaldo, Figo or Rivaldo again. Out of all of them, only 48 succeeded to get into the First Division. Indeed, only one in 1,800 children registered in lower divisions of Spain in the year 2000 achieved it. In other words: for every 5 that succeeded, another 10,000 were being left to hang out and dry. 

21 years later… 

In 2020 the lower categories exceeded by half a million registered players in Spain. There are currently more than 130,000 enrolled children in the U13 category. Therefore, it means around 47,000 more than there were in Spain when Messi signed for the Barça subsidiary in 2000. Considering that the current number of registered players is on the rise, the chance of success is even lower, with only 1 player from 2,600 that will make the grade. 

With that said, if you still believe that your kid can make it, watch this video.