A three-year investigation by an Italian genealogy specialist, Fiorenzo Santini, has shown that Lionel Messi might have Brazilian roots as well.
Messi might go down in the history books as the greatest footballer to ever play the game, with his status being solidified by the incredible achievements he’s had with Argentina in the last decade.
However, Messi’s roots might link this Argentine football legend to their biggest rival, Brazil.
Lionel Messi’s distant origins in Brazil have been confirmed
Santini’s study was published by the Brazilian website Globo, as the Italian genealogist spent years compiling the family tree of the Argentine captain. In his research, Santini also linked Messi’s history to Italy.
Santini claims that Messi’s great-great-grandfather, Raniero Coccettini, was born in San Severino Marche, Italy. Coccettini immigrated to Brazil in the late-19th and early-20th century, with the surname being changed over the years as the family settled in Brazil’s São Paulo as coffee workers.
Messi’s great-grandfather, Federico Cuccittini, was one year old when the family moved to Rosario, which is where Messi would be born decades later.
This gives Messi tangible Brazilian roots four generations above him, and Italian roots if you extend his genealogy by a couple of centuries.
Could Lionel Messi have played for Brazil?
Everyone knows that Messi had to choose between Argentina and Spain when it came time to pick a country for international football.
He chose his place of birth over the country where he received most of his footballing education, so, even if Messi could’ve declared for Brazil, it’s almost impossible he would.
It’s hard to see how Messi could even claim his Brazilian roots for eligibility purposes, as he was the fourth generation of the family to be born in Argentina.
He likely could’ve petitioned his case and gotten an exemption to represent Brazil, but that’s a really far-out scenario to try to imagine Messi playing for the Selecao.
He was never going to represent Brazil, even if this flimsy family history made him eligible for it.
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