Straight to the point
Lionel Messi, an Argentine footballer born in 1987 in Rosario, is the 2022 World Cup winner and holds the record for most Ballon d'Or awards (8). He now plays for Inter Miami in 2026. His wax statue awaits at Wax of Legends in Colmar, where you pose beside him and join a penalty shootout.
Number 10 is right there, planted on the pitch, his eyes lowered towards the ball as if he were already working out its path. Messi makes no grand gestures. He waits, he watches, then everything happens very fast. That is the image every football fan recognises, and it is also the one you come face to face with, life-size, at Wax of Legends in Colmar. Before you find yourself in front of his statue, let's rewind: who is Leo Messi really, where does this kid from Rosario come from, and why does his name come up the moment anyone talks about the greatest player of all time?
Lionel Andrés Messi, whom those close to him and the stands simply call Leo Messi, is an Argentine footballer born on 24 June 1987 in Rosario. Striker, playmaker, goalscorer, provider: he has filled just about every attacking role a pitch allows, often in the same match. His career comes down to a handful of numbers and to a reputation that barely needs spelling out: for many, he is the greatest player football has ever produced.
As a child, Messi suffered from a growth hormone deficiency. The treatment was expensive, too expensive for an Argentine club, and it was FC Barcelona who agreed to cover it. Legend has it that an initial agreement was scribbled on a paper napkin. At thirteen, he left Argentina with his family for Spain and joined La Masia, the Catalan youth academy.
With Messi, it all comes down to contrast. Off the pitch, the man is reserved, sparing with his words, devoted to family life. On the grass, that same quiet player becomes unpredictable, able to turn a match around with three touches of the ball. Perhaps that duality is exactly what fans find so magnetic. And through gestures repeated thousands of times, some of his poses have become images that lodge in the collective memory, the very ones a sculptor can freeze in wax.
Who is Lionel Messi?
An Argentine footballer born on 24 June 1987 in Rosario, trained at FC Barcelona, 2022 World Cup winner with Argentina. Holder of the most Ballon d'Or awards in history. In 2026, he plays for Inter Miami, in Major League Soccer.
The bulk of Leo Messi's career is bound up with FC Barcelona. For nearly two decades, he stacked up titles there (league championships, cups, the Champions League) and a goal tally no one at the club had ever come close to before him. His bond with the Catalan club became so natural that for a long time it was hard to imagine him anywhere else.
And yet. In 2021, he left Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain, a departure that surprised even his most loyal supporters. Two seasons in France, then another move in 2023, this time to the United States and Inter Miami. Lionel Messi's current club, in 2026, is Inter Miami, in Major League Soccer. The transfer turned the spotlight onto the American league.
On the international side, the peak has a date: December 2022. In Doha, Argentina won the World Cup at the end of a final that has stayed famous. For Messi, it was the trophy his record was missing. Added to it are the continental titles won with Argentina.
Key figures
- More than 800 goals scored over his career, clubs and international caps combined
- 2022 World Cup winner with Argentina
- The Ballon d'Or record, the most in history
- Nearly 20 seasons spent at FC Barcelona (2004–2021)
- 2 seasons at Paris Saint-Germain (2021–2023)
- Club in 2026: Inter Miami (Major League Soccer), since 2023
It's impossible to talk about Leo Messi without the name Cristiano Ronaldo turning up in the next sentence. For more than fifteen years, the two men pushed each other to the top of football. The "Messi or Ronaldo" debate fires up playgrounds, cafés and TV panels, and it still has no definitive answer.
On paper, the profiles differ. In age, Messi, born in 1987, is 39 in 2026; Ronaldo, born in February 1985, is 41. In raw numbers, both pass the 800-goal mark over their careers. The first plays in the gaps, the second imposes his power and his heading game; one lifted the World Cup, the other built his legend on other pitches. Choosing, in the end, mostly comes down to saying which style of football speaks to you most.
| Marker | Leo Messi | Cristiano Ronaldo |
|---|---|---|
| Born | 24 June 1987, Rosario | 5 February 1985, Funchal |
| Age in 2026 | 39 | 41 |
| Career goals | More than 800 | More than 800 |
| World Cup | Winner 2022 | Not won |
| Club in 2026 | Inter Miami (MLS) | — |
Did you know?
The Messi–Ronaldo rivalry was long fuelled by the Barcelona–Real Madrid duel, the famous Clásico. For years, every fixture between the two clubs looked like a head-to-head between the two players.
A career like Leo Messi's is also told through his great matches. Fans searching for Lionel Messi's matches quickly land on a handful of games that have become reference points: slaloms through the opposing defence, free kicks dropped into the top corner, goal after goal. Every supporter has their own, the match they pull out to convince a sceptic.
But if we had to keep just one, it would surely be the 2022 World Cup final. That night, in Doha, Argentina and France fought a duel that swung several times before being settled on a penalty shootout. Messi scored, carried his team, and finally lifted the trophy his collection was missing. For many, that image, the Argentine captain hugging the cup to his chest, sums up an entire career. It is also this Messi, the one who reached the summit, that you keep in mind as you discover his statue.
Here is the moment fans are waiting for. At Wax of Legends, in Colmar, Leo Messi is no longer a silhouette on a screen: he stands in front of you, life-size, captured in a pose that any football fan will recognise at first glance. You step closer, you frame the shot, and the photo you take home is nothing like a screenshot. You share the scene with him.
Messi's statue takes its place in the museum's sports gallery, alongside other faces enthusiasts know well: Kylian Mbappé, Neymar, or tennis player Rafael Nadal. The trail features 60 in all, rounded out by 30 listening points and 15 interactive experiences where you spring into action.
And that is where the shirt comes into its own. Head for the penalty shootout: you take your place, ball at your feet, and Leo Messi is on your team, at your side, ready to finish off the move you set up. There is no standoff against him: he plays with you. For the length of a penalty, you form the duo many children have dreamed of.
The rest of the museum works the same way. You climb the steps of a red carpet in the wake of film stars, you sit down at a roulette table between Brad Pitt and George Clooney, you push open the door of a studio where the mic is waiting for a karaoke session. At every stage, the included audio guide, available in six languages, slips in the anecdote you were missing. Allow 1 to 1.5 hours to go through it all without rushing.
Visit information
Wax of Legends is open every day, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., weekends and public holidays included, with last entries at 5 p.m. Address: 12 place de la Cathédrale, in Colmar. Your ticket can be booked online.
A visit to Wax of Legends can carry on without getting back in the car, since two other worlds are at the same address. Just after posing with Messi's statue, step into Choco-Story, the chocolate museum: tastings, manufacturing secrets and a treat-filled trail for the whole family. A combined pass exists to take in both without a second thought.
Also on site, Vino-Storia offers a discovery trail through the wines of Alsace that ends with a tasting of three cuvées. The experience is open to all ages: an alcohol-free version, based on juices with aromas close to those of the wines, lets the youngest follow the tasting just like the grown-ups. Here again, a combined pass brings several museums together in a single visit.
If the urge to explore the city further takes hold, Colmar is not short of options: the Unterlinden museum or the Bartholdi museum, devoted to the Colmar-born sculptor of the Statue of Liberty, are extra ways to round off the day. One nice touch: Wax of Legends devotes a room to Bartholdi, where you can slip your face into his most famous work.
Good to know
The duo pass applies –20% on two museums, the trio pass –33% (one museum free). Both stay valid for 7 days from the first visit: nothing forces you to do everything on the same day.
In 2026, Leo Messi plays for Inter Miami, in Major League Soccer, the North American league. He signed there in 2023 after two seasons at Paris Saint-Germain and nearly twenty years spent at FC Barcelona.
Born on 24 June 1987 in Rosario, Lionel Messi is 39 in 2026. For comparison, Cristiano Ronaldo, born in February 1985, is 41.
Leo Messi has passed 800 goals over his career, clubs and the Argentine national team combined, a total very few players have reached in the history of football.
Lionel Messi holds the record for the most Ballon d'Or awards in football history, a distinction that each year rewards the world's best player.
Jorge Messi is Lionel Messi's father. He supported his son's career very early on, notably during the move to Barcelona at the age of thirteen, and he long played a central role in managing his sporting affairs.
Lionel Messi grew up in a family of Catholic tradition in Argentina. He rarely speaks about the subject in detail, keeping it within his private sphere.
Yes. At Wax of Legends, in Colmar, a life-size wax statue of Leo Messi awaits you in the sports gallery. You can pose beside him and, at the penalty shootout, play alongside him as a teammate for the length of a penalty.
Allow 1 to 1.5 hours to go through the whole museum, its 60 statues, its 30 listening points and its 15 interactive experiences, audio guide in six languages included.
In brief
Leo Messi, 2022 World Cup winner and holder of the Ballon d'Or record, plays for Inter Miami in 2026. His wax statue can be discovered at Wax of Legends, in Colmar, open every day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., the chance to share the scene with the legend.
Information verified by the Wax of Legends team (July 2026).
Cover photo : © Serge NIED — Wax of Legends
