MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — Jorge Messi, the father and longtime agent of Argentina captain Lionel Messi, has died at 68, closing the chapter on a man whose decisions off the field helped shape one of the greatest careers in soccer history.

Jorge Messi died Saturday at a hospital in Rosario, the central Argentina city where his family is from, according to a statement from Newell's Old Boys, the club where Lionel Messi came up as a boy. Newell's said Jorge had undergone treatment in recent months for an unspecified illness. Here are five things to know about the man behind soccer's biggest name.

1. He was Lionel Messi's father — and, for decades, his agent.

Beyond his role as a parent, Jorge Messi served as his son's primary business representative and negotiator for years, guiding contract talks, sponsorship deals and the family's move from Rosario to Barcelona when Lionel was a teenager seeking treatment for a growth hormone deficiency. That move, which uprooted the family from Argentina, is widely credited as one of the pivotal decisions that allowed Lionel to develop at Barcelona's famed youth academy, La Masia.

2. He was convicted of tax fraud alongside his son.

In 2016, a Spanish court found Jorge........

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