Lionel Messi is set to become the majority shareholder of Spanish second-division club Eldense.
Eldense, based near the port city of Alicante in south-east Spain, confirmed to The Associated Press on Wednesday that the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner had reached a preliminary agreement with the club's owners.
The deal will see him buy the shares held by Grupo TH Soluciones, subject to the completion of the remaining legal and contractual procedures.
The club did not provide financial details and did not say when the deal would be completed.
Eldense will become the second Spanish club the Argentina star has invested in. Earlier this year, he became the owner of a fifth-division side, Barcelona-based UE Cornella.
Eldense fired coach Claudio Barragan on Sunday after claiming just two points from four league matches this season.
Messi has built a strong bond with Spain. He arrived at Barcelona at age 13, when he and his family came to the country to try his luck at the club's youth academy.
He was the best player of his generation during two decades at Barcelona, where he won multiple titles before leaving in 2021.
Eldense has historical ties with Barcelona. It was founded by a group of supporters of the Catalan club in September 1921, hence its blue and red colors.
The 39-year-old Messi was named this week on the shortlist for another Ballon d'Or award after guiding Argentina to a runner-up finish at the World Cup and winning the MLS Cup with Inter Miami
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Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi (10) gestures during the second half of an MLS soccer match against Atlanta United, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
LONDON (AP) — British police said Wednesday that they have opened a criminal investigation into allegations that anti-immigration party Reform UK broke rules barring foreign donations.
Last week, Channel 4 broadcast an undercover investigation in which two senior Reform UK officials appeared to discuss ways money from an American financier could be channeled through his U.K.-based son to get around the rules.
U.K. electoral law says parties can only accept donations from British voters or U.K.-registered businesses.
The Metropolitan Police said that after the broadcast, the force “received a number of reports relating to donations and polling involving a political party.
“Detectives have assessed the information provided and determined that there are potential offenses requiring investigation,” it said.
Reform UK said it “denies any wrongdoing and will fully cooperate with the investigation.”
The party suspended Dan Jukes, a longtime adviser to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, and party policy chief James Orr, after the documentary was aired. But Farage denied that there was any breach of electoral law.
The program showed two men purporting to be a U.S. financier and his U.K.-based son discussing with Jukes, in the presence of Farage, how 500,000 pounds ($675,000) could be donated to the party through the son. The “son” was actually a reporter from investigative group Verbatim, and the “father” an actor.
In separate footage, Orr, a Cambridge University theologian, appeared to discuss getting the U.S. donor to pay for opinion polls commissioned by Reform UK.
In a speech to the party’s conference on Friday, Farage insisted Reform UK hadn't broken any rules or accepted “dodgy money.” He accused “foreign-funded hard-left activists” of being behind what he called “entrapment.” Verbatim is an offshoot of the Center for Climate Reporting, a nonprofit investigative group that says it's funded by grants and donations.
Reform UK was facing questions about its funding even before the broadcast. Farage is being investigated by Parliament’s standards watchdog over an undeclared 5 million-pound ($6.7 million) gift he received from a Thailand-based cryptocurrency billionaire in 2024.
Police said Wednesday that the potential offenses raised by the TV program “are similar in nature to matters already under investigation by the Met’s Special Enquiry Team relating to donations made to the same political party. As a result, these matters will form part of that ongoing investigation.”
Founded in 2018 as the Brexit Party to push for a hard break from the European Union, Reform UK has grown rapidly in membership and support since changing its name in 2021 and honing its anti-establishment, anti-immigration message.
Though it holds just eight of the 650 seats in the House of Commons, it has often led opinion polls and was the big winner in local elections in May, a result that helped spur a panicky Labour Party to replace then-leader Keir Starmer with new Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
In July, Farage quit his House of Commons seat in protest of the parliamentary standards investigation, saying he would run for reelection and let voters be his judge. He easily won the August election, which was dismissed as a stunt by his critics and boycotted by all the other main parties.
Reform Party Leader Nigel Farage points as he speaks during the Reform party's annual conference at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, England, Friday, Sept. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Krych)
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage drinks water, during the Reform party's annual conference, in Birmingham, England, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)
