The tenth rule had been left blank, waiting for him. Lionel Messi walked onto the floor of the Palacio de los Deportes in Oviedo on Thursday afternoon, took the ten-point football charter the children themselves had drafted, and finished it with a single instruction.
Enjoy it.
Around 1,500 pupils from 40 Asturian schools wrote the first nine rules of the charter in the weeks before, as part of a Princess of Asturias Foundation project called “El juego del 10” (The Game of 10), built around respect, inclusion and fair play.
Then Messi turned to the parents in the hall.
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“You have to do what you love. There are many children whose parents place enormous pressure on them, demanding too much without realising that they are not helping them.”
The 6,000-capacity venue had sold out in 13 minutes when tickets went on sale.
“You have to learn from the defeats”
The Argentine, who flew into Oviedo earlier on Thursday with his wife Antonela Roccuzzo, kept returning to the idea that enjoyment, not pressure, is what keeps a child in the game.
“I always enjoyed playing football. From a very young age, whenever they gave me a ball, it was my passion,” he said.
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He spoke in Spanish about losing, too.
“De las derrotas también se sacan cosas muy positivas, hay que aprender de ellas” (From defeats you also take very positive things, you have to learn from them).
Alongside him on the floor sat Santi Cazorla, the Spain international and Real Oviedo favorite, as guest of honor. Messi described him as “una persona extraordinaria” (an extraordinary person).
“Football is a beautiful sport. It is a game to make friends. Football unites and can bring people so much closer together.”
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On the welcome he received from the Asturian public, Messi was pointed.
“I wanted to start by saying thank you. I spent a lot of time in Spain, and seeing that people still hold such affection for me brings me tremendous happiness.”
The Teatro Campoamor on Friday
The formal ceremony follows on Friday at Oviedo’s Teatro Campoamor, with King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia, Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía in attendance.
The Princess of Asturias Foundation named Messi as the 2026 sports laureate back in June, citing both his playing career and the humanitarian work of the Leo Messi Foundation and his UNICEF ambassadorship, which he has held since 2010. The prize carries a sculpture designed by Joan Miró, a diploma, an insignia and €50,000.
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