ROSARIO, Argentina — Jorge Messi, the father and longtime business representative of Argentine soccer icon Lionel Messi, died Friday night at a clinic in his native Rosario after a prolonged illness, according to multiple Argentine media outlets. He was 68.

Reports from outlets including Infobae indicated Jorge Messi passed away around 10 p.m. local time. An official cause of death had not been confirmed by the Messi family as of Saturday. He is survived by his wife, Celia, sons Lionel, Rodrigo and Matias, daughter Maria Sol, and a number of grandchildren.

A Health Struggle That Played Out Publicly

Jorge Messi’s declining health first drew widespread public attention during the World Cup, when Lionel Messi was seen visibly emotional on the field, including after scoring against Algeria. Asked about the tears, Messi told reporters at the time, “Why was I crying? It had absolutely nothing to do with football. I have had a few difficult days.” His remarks quickly sparked speculation linking the emotion to his father’s condition.

Days later, the Messi family issued a public statement addressing the situation directly. “The Messi family wishes to inform you that Jorge Messi is currently dealing with health problems,” the statement began. “He is currently under medical supervision and is recovering well.” The family went on to express concern over the intensity of the speculation, writing, “Given the reports, rumours and speculation that have been circulating in recent hours, the family wishes to express its deep concern about the lack of sensitivity,” while asking that “the privacy, confidentiality and personal space of Jorge – and that of his entire family – be respected throughout this process.”

A separate statement issued in the following weeks said Jorge had been “under medical monitoring, recovering and evolving favorably within the condition he presents.” In late July, Lionel Messi skipped Major League Soccer’s All-Star Game, a decision widely believed to be tied to a visit with his father, before returning to action for Inter Miami in an MLS match days later.

The Man Who Took Messi to Barcelona

Jorge Messi’s influence on his son’s career is difficult to overstate. When a young Lionel was coming up through the youth academy at Newell’s Old Boys in Rosario, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency requiring costly treatment. After failing to secure sufficient financial support in Argentina, including from Newell’s and River Plate, Jorge explored options abroad, ultimately taking his son to try out for FC Barcelona.

That trial led to one of the most famous moments in the club’s history: an agreement scribbled on a paper napkin with then-Barcelona sporting director Carles Rexach on Dec. 14, 2000, at the Pompeia Tennis Club, committing the club to sign the 13-year-old Messi and fund his medical treatment. The move to Spain, made possible directly by Jorge’s determination to find his son a path forward, is widely regarded as one of the most consequential decisions in the history of the sport.

Staying by His Son’s Side During a Difficult Transition

Messi was just 13 when the family relocated to Spain, a transition that proved difficult for several family members who struggled to adjust to life away from Argentina. Jorge remained by his son’s side throughout that period, providing stability during a stretch when Messi’s future in the sport was still far from guaranteed. Messi has spoken previously about how emotionally taxing that time was for both of them, recalling that there were days when he and his father each struggled deeply and would retreat separately to cry so the other would not see it. “My father was always by my side,” Messi has said, describing how Jorge repeatedly checked in with him, asking whether he wanted to continue pursuing his dream in Spain or return home to Argentina. Messi chose to stay.

A Behind-the-Scenes Presence for Decades

Despite managing the business affairs of arguably the most recognizable athlete on the planet, Jorge Messi consistently preferred to remain out of the spotlight, giving few interviews over the years and generally avoiding the intense media attention that followed his son throughout his career. He served for decades as Lionel Messi’s agent and financial representative, a role that placed him at the center of many of the most significant decisions in his son’s professional life, from contract negotiations to the eventual move to Paris Saint-Germain and later to Inter Miami.

That behind-the-scenes role was not without controversy. In 2016, Spanish prosecutors sought an 18-month prison sentence and a fine against Jorge Messi for allegedly defrauding Spain’s tax authorities of approximately 4.5 million dollars in unpaid taxes between 2007 and 2009, a case that also named Lionel Messi before prosecutors ultimately cleared the player of wrongdoing.

Tributes Expected From Across the Football World

Given Jorge Messi’s decades-long presence alongside one of the most celebrated athletes in the history of the sport, tributes from clubs, players and football institutions across the world are expected in the days following his death. His passing comes at a moment when Lionel Messi remains an active professional player with Inter Miami in Major League Soccer, having recently contributed a goal and an assist in a match against San Luis just days before his father’s death.

Funeral arrangements had not been publicly announced as of Saturday. Given Jorge Messi’s central and enduring role in shaping his son’s rise from a young prospect in Rosario to one of the greatest players in the history of football, his death is expected to prompt an outpouring of tributes from across the sport in the coming days, even as the family has continued to ask, as it did earlier this year during his illness, that its privacy be respected during this period of grief.

Fifa has been forced to U-turn on plans to sell off a slice of the World Cup after fierce opposition, with threats of future boycotts and calls for the governing body’s president, Gianni Infantino, to quit.

But why were a group of tech investors interested in the World Cup in the first place, and are similar proposals in the future inevitable?

In a world in which AI could upend human recreation and pastimes, executives at Thrive Eternal, a spin-off of venture capital firm Thrive Capital, saw an opportunity to lead a group of investors to place cash in the biggest sporting competition on the planet.

The football World Cup was seen as the latest in a new strategy from firm, which believes that sport will not only survive the AI revolution, but grow in value.

Run by Joshua Kushner, the brother of US Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared, Thrive mainly invests in technology companies developing artificial intelligence (AI) and it has been a major financial backer of Open AI.

But in April this year, the New York City-based entity created the new investment arm Thrive Eternal in order to invest in areas that have “qualities that cannot be replicated by technology”.

Sport is central to that strategy, and that is where football – and securing a minority stake in the World Cup under Fifa’s proposed Forward Enterprise (FFE), – became an opportunity.

The view is that the tradition, cultural and identity aspects of football will protect the sport from being upended by AI compared with other forms of entertainment such as movies and music, which are already seeing the technology start to replace humans.

Professor Simon Chadwick has worked in the global sports industry for 30 years, including working with both fan groups, football clubs and governing bodies Fifa and Uefa.

He said investment interests and commercialisation in general meant a lot of decisions were being made on behalf of football and fans “in Wall Street and Silicon Valley”.

“It is almost as though it’s crept up on us and a lot of people haven’t really thought about what’s happening,” he told the BBC.

While it raised governance questions for Fifa, he added: “Whether people like it or not, private equity investment in sport is happening.”

Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry has no intention of requesting a trade to the Boston Celtics or anywhere else, according to a new report, closing the book on a rumor that spread rapidly across social media earlier this month despite having little basis in actual reporting.

Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints reported that Curry is expected to remain with Golden State through the entirety of the 2026-27 season, writing, “The bottom line is that Curry isn’t going anywhere. All of those trade rumors and people putting Curry in the trade machine online are nothing but fiction.” Siegel added, “Curry wants to remain with the Warriors and will not be requesting a trade, sources told ClutchPoints. Steph will be on the team to begin and finish the 2026-27 season.”

How the Rumor Started

The speculation traces back to a July 27 opinion column written by Sports Illustrated’s John Karalis, a longtime Celtics reporter, in which he floated a hypothetical trade sending Paul George, Sam Hauser and draft picks to Golden State in exchange for Curry. Karalis framed the idea explicitly as speculative, built around the premise of what Boston could offer if the Warriors were ever open to moving their franchise star.

That nuance was quickly lost as the story spread online. Social media accounts began reporting, inaccurately, that Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens had actually called the Warriors to pitch a trade for Curry, a claim that Karalis never made. One post from the account TheNBABase, stating “Brad Stevens has already called the Warriors to pitch a deal for Stephen Curry, per John Karalis,” drew roughly 2 million views on X, while a nearly identical post from another account topped 1 million views. Karalis publicly corrected the record himself, writing, “I did not report that the Celtics made an offer to the Warriors. I wrote a column that said IF the Warriors were open to a Steph trade that Brad WOULD call. I thought it was pretty clear that the whole piece was my opinion.”

Multiple Reports Now Point the Same Direction

Since the rumor first spread, several additional reports have independently pushed back on the idea that a Curry trade is realistic. Sports journalist Jake Weinbach reported that the Warriors are not considering trading Curry and remain committed to building around him, saying, “Steph Curry is not a trade candidate, at least for the time being. The Warriors fully plan to keep their core intact heading into the 2026-27 season.”

Separate analysis from Yahoo Sports and Yardbarker outlined several practical obstacles that would make any such deal unlikely even if the Warriors were willing to listen, starting with the fact that Curry remains under contract for the 2026-27 season and that Golden State has reportedly been in discussions about extending him further rather than moving him. Those outlets also noted that any realistic trade package would require an enormous outlay of draft capital from Boston, potentially including Paul George, multiple first-round picks, pick swaps and additional young assets, a cost analysts said would be difficult to justify given the Celtics’ broader long-term roster-building strategy over the past decade.

A Warriors Offseason That Fueled Speculation

The rumors gained traction in part because of a relatively quiet offseason for Golden State, which failed to land a marquee addition after LeBron James chose to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers rather than the Warriors. That outcome left some fans and analysts questioning whether the front office had done enough to build another championship-caliber roster around Curry, feeding speculation that the 38-year-old guard might eventually look elsewhere to chase one more title.

Despite that offseason disappointment, Golden State is expected to move forward largely with its existing core heading into next season, led by Curry and longtime teammate Draymond Green, while the team awaits the return of Jimmy Butler from injury. According to Heavy.com, the broader consensus around the NBA remains that Curry will not request a trade, even as the outlet noted that if Curry were to grow unhappy with the Warriors’ direction and did not sign a contract extension in the coming weeks, speculation about his future would likely resurface.

A Career Built Entirely in Golden State

Curry has spent his entire NBA career with the Warriors since being selected with the seventh overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. Over that span, he has led the franchise to four championships and become the defining figure of its modern dynasty, transforming the Warriors from a perennial lottery team into one of the league’s most successful organizations of the past decade. Curry has consistently expressed a desire to finish his career in Golden State, a stance that has remained unchanged throughout the recent wave of trade speculation.

A Familiar Pattern of Offseason Rumor Cycles

The Curry-to-Celtics saga fits a broader pattern common to NBA offseasons, in which speculative columns or hypothetical trade proposals, often explicitly framed as opinion or exercises in imagination, get stripped of that context as they spread across social media and aggregator sites, eventually taking on the appearance of confirmed reporting. Karalis’s experience watching his own opinion piece transform into a viral, inaccurate report illustrates how quickly that kind of distortion can occur, particularly during the slower news period of the NBA’s summer calendar, when speculative trade content tends to draw outsized attention from fans eager for offseason storylines.

With multiple independent reports now aligning on the same conclusion, that Curry has no intention of requesting a trade and that the Warriors have no plans to move him, the speculation linking him to Boston appears to have run its course for now. Attention is likely to shift toward whether Golden State and Curry finalize a contract extension in the coming weeks, a development that would further reinforce his long-term future with the only franchise he has ever played for as the Warriors prepare to open training camp ahead of the 2026-27 season.

Medicaid spending on a top autism therapy has surged past $5 billion, drawing scrutiny over fraud and how taxpayer dollars are being spent.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), one of the most common treatments for children with autism, uses structured, one-on-one sessions to build communication, social and daily living skills. Between 2018 and 2024, Medicaid providers paid out more than $5.15 billion under an ABA billing code. Three providers received roughly $685 million in Medicaid reimbursements during that period.

The data alone does not explain why those reimbursements were so high, and billing experts say unusually large payments can reflect a variety of factors.

MINNESOTA FRAUD SUSPECT SKIPS COURT, FORFEITS BOND, THROWING $11M MEDICAID CASE INTO DOUBT

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy helps children with autism build communication, social and daily living skills through structured, one-on-one sessions.  (iStock / iStock)

Officials at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) told Fox News Digital it has observed “significant growth” in Medicaid spending on ABA therapy in recent years.

“While access to medically necessary services remains a priority, rapid program growth also underscores the importance of ensuring services are clinically appropriate, delivered by qualified providers, and supported by strong program integrity safeguards,” a CMS spokesperson said.

As spending has grown, federal prosecutors have pursued multimillion-dollar fraud cases involving ABA providers.

In May, two Minnesota autism clinic operators were charged with allegedly billing Medicaid $46.6 million for services prosecutors say were unnecessary or never provided. Another Minnesota woman pleaded guilty in a separate $14 million Medicaid autism fraud scheme.

Investigations by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have also documented allegations that some providers billed for services that were never provided, inflated therapy hours and aggressively expanded as Medicaid spending surged.

TRUMP ADMIN PAUSING OVER $1B IN MEDICAID PAYMENTS TO MINNESOTA, CALIFORNIA OVER FRAUD, COMPLIANCE CONCERNS

Eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse in federal programs, including Medicaid, has emerged as a key policy priority for the Trump administration during its second term. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images / Getty Images)

The scrutiny comes as the Trump administration has made it a focus of his second term to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse across federal programs, including Medicaid, a central policy priority.

Meanwhile, states have responded differently.

Florida says it recovered more than $72 million in improper Medicaid payments over the past year.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently announced a statewide Medicaid Integrity Initiative to strengthen provider screening, enhance fraud detection and increase oversight.

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Republicans have argued that eliminating fraud, waste and abuse in Medicaid should be a priority before considering broader changes to the program, saying improper payments divert taxpayer dollars from vulnerable Americans who depend on the safety ne (iStock / iStock)

While Florida has focused on strengthening fraud enforcement, Georgia lawmakers have focused on reimbursement rates, even as industry representatives testified that use of autism therapy services has increased by more than 300% in recent years.

The debate reflects the difficult balance between rooting out fraud and preserving access to a therapy that many families say has been life-changing for children with autism.