Georges Parfait Mbida Messi (born 8 December 1980) is a Cameroonian former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Club career

Born in

Yaoundé Yaoundé (; , ) is the Capital city, capital city of Cameroon. It has a population of more than 2.8 million which makes it the second-largest city in the country after the port city Douala. It lies in the Centre Region (Cameroon), Centre Region o ...

, Messi started playing professionally with hometown clubs

Tonnerre Yaoundé Tonnerre Kalara Club of Yaoundé is a professional football club based in Yaoundé, Cameroon. The club was most prominent during the 1980s, winning all of their 5 national championships. They have also won the national cup 5 times. Among the clu ...

and

Canon Yaoundé Canon Sportif de Yaoundé, commonly known as Canon Yaoundé, is a Cameroonian professional football club based in the capital city of Yaoundé. The club was formed in 1930 and play their games at Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo. Their most successful perio ...

, having a spell abroad in between with

Çaykur Rizespor Çaykur Rizespor Kulübü is a Turkish professional Association football, football club based in Rize, a city on the eastern Black Sea region, Black Sea coast. The team competes in the Süper Lig, the top tier of Football in Turkey, Turkish footba ...

. He featured scarcely during the 2000–01 season, as the Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

team finished in ninth position. After leaving Canon, Messi played in Belgium with K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen, but featured very rarely for the Pro League side. After a few months in

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

he moved to Portugal, signing for

S.C. Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense (), commonly known as Olhanense, is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its Association football, football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Algarve Football Association Portuguese Di ...

of the Segunda Liga and appearing in an average of 12 games in his first two seasons. Messi had one of the best years as a professional in the 2008–09 campaign, scoring twice in 27 matches – mainly as a substitute – as the

Algarve The Algarve (, , ) is the southernmost NUTS statistical regions of Portugal, NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities (concelho, ''concelhos'' or ''município ...

club returned to the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

after 34 years. In January 2010 he left Olhanense and joined G.D. Interclube in

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

, with the

Luanda Luanda ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Angola, largest city of Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Ang ...

team

winning Winning may refer to: * Victory Film * Winning (film), ''Winning'' (film), a 1969 movie starring Paul Newman * ''Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman'', a 2015 documentary by Adam Carolla and Nate Adams Music * ''Winning'', an album by Ten Fo ...

the

Girabola Girabola, or ''Campeonato Nacional de Futebol de Séniores Masculinos'', is the top division of Angolan association football, football. It is organized by the Angolan Football Federation. The term "Girabola" () is a creation of the nationalist, ...

championship shortly after.

Honours

Olhanense * Segunda Liga: 2008–09 Interclube *

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Messi, Georges 1980 births Living people 21st-century Cameroonian sportsmen Cameroonian men's footballers Footballers from Yaoundé Men's association football midfielders Tonnerre Yaoundé players Canon Yaoundé players Süper Lig players Çaykur Rizespor footballers Belgian Pro League players K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen players Al Kharaitiyat SC players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players S.C. Olhanense players Girabola players G.D. Interclube players Domant FC players Porcelana Futebol Clube do Cazengo players Liga 1 (Indonesia) players Persib Bandung players Persiram Raja Ampat players Cameroonian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Angola Expatriate men's footballers in Indonesia Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Angola Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in Indonesia