During his four-day visit to China, famous Argentine footballer Lionel Messi announced that he will open an amusement park in Nanjing city in November 2018. The investment will be called “Messi Experience Park”.

The Messi Entertainment Center will feature over 20 different attractions directly linked to the Barcelona player. The Argentine stressed that many of them will be based on virtual technology and so-called augmented reality, through which visitors will be able to follow his career and participate in football training.

The park will be built by a consortium of Chinese companies working in cooperation with the agency responsible for Messi’s image – Leo Messi Management and the Spanish company Mediapro – reported the British newspaper “Independent”.

According to investors, it would be “the best theme park in the world”, and its offer is described as “based on revolutionary technology thanks to which visitors will be able to immerse themselves in everything related to Messi, using the latest solutions” .

During his visit to China, Messi said he expected the park’s attractions to have a positive impact on generations of young footballers. “I hope I can give them experiences that they have never had before and thus encourage them to take up sports very early. Maybe they will feel my presence when they visit this park.” – the “China Daily” quoted the player’s statement.

The new facility will have an area of ​​4.2 thousand square meters. square meters of indoor attractions and 3.4 thousand. outdoor space.

Messi is a five-time winner of the FIFA Ballon d’Or for the best player in the world. Last year, in the Forbes ranking, he took second place on the list of the highest paid athletes in the world with an income of $ 81.4 million. He was surpassed only by Real Madrid’s Christiano Ronaldo of Portugal, who earned $88 million in 2016.

China is focusing on the development of football. President Xi Jinping is a fan of the sport and has repeatedly announced that one of his dreams is to host the World Cup in China and win this competition in the future.