Rayane Messi Tanfouri (born 23 May 2007) is a French footballer who plays as a left winger for

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

club

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

Early life

Messi was born in Sèvres,

Hauts-de-Seine Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a Departments of France, département in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region, Northern France. It covers Paris's western inner Banlieue, suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the e ...

in the Paris

suburbs A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

area. His father, Zacharie Messi Tanfouri is a Cameroonian of Sudanese descent while his mother is Tunisian. He took his first footballing steps by joining local side FC Chaville in 2015. Alongside football, his father also enrolled him in futsal when he was younger to improve his accuracy in tight spaces and increase his cardio. As a result, Messi displayed technical ease and had above-average physical abilities, which quickly caught the eye of the big teams in the region. As a result, he left Chaville in 2017 and joined

FC Versailles Football Club de Versailles 78 also known as FC Versailles or simply Versailles is a French semi-professional association football club based in the commune of Versailles, Île-de-France. The club was formed in 1989 as the result of a merger betw ...

. In 2020, Messi moved to the Clairefontaine academy, showing impressive technical qualities leading to numerous French clubs attempting to sign him. In 2022, at the age of 14, he chose to join the youth academy of Dijon, signing a three-year contract.

Club career

Dijon

Impressing in the youth ranks, Messi was promoted to Dijon's reserves side and made his

Championnat National 3 The Championnat National 3, commonly referred to as simply National 3 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur 2, is a football league competition. The league serves as the fifth division of the French football league system behind ...

debut in August 2023 at the age of 16. On 5 April 2024, he made his first senior debut with Dijon, coming in as a substitute in the clubs 0–2 defeat against his former team Versailles. At 16 years old, 10 months and 13 days, he became the youngest player to have played for Dijon. A week later, he appeared again for Dijon as a substitute and scored the only goal for the match to bring his team a 1–0 victory against Orléans. The goal made him the youngest goalscorer in Dijon's history.

Strasbourg

On 14 August 2024, Messi signed for

club

on a three-year deal.

International career

Messi is a youth international for France, having played for the under-16s and under-17s. In March 2024, he scored a brace to help France U17 win 2–1 against England as part of the Euro U17 Elite Round, thus qualify his team to the final tournament. Two months after, he was selected in France U17's squad for the Euro U17.

Playing style

Messi's coach at Versailles, Matthieu Merle, praised him for “his strength, his explosiveness and his ability to make differences in one-on-one situations”.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Messi, Rayane 2007 births Living people People from Sèvres French men's footballers Men's association football wingers France men's youth international footballers Dijon FCO players RC Strasbourg Alsace players Championnat National players Championnat National 3 players French people of Cameroonian descent French people of Sudanese descent French people of Tunisian descent