From Deportivo LS to LSM: Suárez and Messi join forces to develop a new club in Uruguayan football.
It's no longer just about scoring goals on the pitch, but also from the office: Luis Suárez and Lionel Messi have joined forces to create a new club in Uruguayan football, Deportivo LSM .
The club, founded in 2018 as an amateur club as Deportivo LS, will now add a professional division, Deportivo LSM, under the Sports Public Limited Companies (SAD) system and with the aim of moving up the ranks in Uruguayan football. Deportivo LSM will begin its journey in the fourth professional division, the "Primera D."
"For Suárez and Messi , the new venture has two clear objectives," highlighted the Uruguayan edition of "Forbes" magazine. "The first is social and consists of giving [the Montevideo suburb of] Ciudad de la Costa a benchmark club that generates a sense of belonging and develops new talent for the country. While the second is entrepreneurial and business-related: to develop a strong youth system that will nourish the team and, eventually, generate foreign sales and income for the club."
Messi and Suárez built a friendship during their years at FC Barcelona, and today they share the final stretch of their careers at Inter Miami.
"I'm very excited; there's a lot of potential in Uruguayan football," Suárez told "Ovación." "We want to give opportunities to those who want to compete and have the skills. I'd love for them to have the tools I didn't have as a kid and instill values in them. They shouldn't just focus on making money, but on many other factors," he continued.
Messi expressed his joy at joining Suárez in this project: "Being able to be part of this alongside you is an honor for me, and it's a joy that you invited and chose me. I hope to contribute everything I can to continue growing and, above all, to be in this alongside you as well."
Uruguayan football, a two-time world champion at the national team level, is a growing target for international investors seeking to revitalize storied clubs. Many of them are in decline, but with great resale potential, with investments that are often more than fully recouped by selling players from those clubs' youth academy abroad.
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