Immersive Messi show illuminates a legendary soccer career

What does it take for the gifted son of a factory worker — a young boy also fighting against a growth problem — to rise from the local pitches in his hometown to become one of the world's greatest soccer players?

While that might sound like the pitch for a Hollywood movie, the answer to the question lies squarely in reality, and has been laid bare through the storied career of Lionel Messi — a career that began at a boys' club in his native Rosario, Argentina, and has seen him scale the summit of his sport as a World Cup-winning captain.

Now his inspiring journey vividly unfolds for a Beijing audience, at The Messi Experience — A Dream Come True, an exhibition at the capital's Chaoyang Joy City mall, a popular and bustling lifestyle destination in the city.

Following runs in Miami, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires and Chicago, the exhibition, organized by SportXip Pte Ltd in Singapore, has arrived in Beijing, its first stop in Asia, and will run until March 28. It navigates Messi's path to global sporting greatness by eschewing the traditional presentation text, photos and memorabilia. Instead, it takes the form of nine rooms, inside which light, sound, moving images and interactive games contribute to a diverse immersive experience.

A ground-to-ceiling hologram, based on a video of Messi, greets visitors at the beginning of the exhibition and ushers them to explore several special moments in his life, and how, in Qatar in 2022, he realized his dream of achieving World Cup glory.

One room offers the perspective of sitting inside a team bus and looking outside, to a view of bustling streets and cheering fans with Argentine national flags. Another re-creates Messi's childhood bedroom — his desk, bed, bookshelf and toys — while videos of him playing for Newell's Old Boys in Rosario, are projected on the wall.

There is a Locker Room section where visitors can imagine themselves as Messi's Argentina teammates, as they listen to a digitally created hologram of Messi delivering his captain's speech before a match.

Then, there are gaming areas where visitors can try to emulate their hero's shooting skills and even pose for a photo with Messi via augmented reality.

Aaron Kok, co-founder of Sport-Xip, told China Daily: "The exhibition shows how a small boy — although he had talent, he endured a lot of challenges — overcame whatever difficulties that life gave him, and always managed to outperform expectations.

"It shows very clearly that, as long as someone puts in the effort, doesn't give up, and shows determination, there is a chance for them to succeed," he added.

He said that, as the exhibition tours to different cities, SportXip has tried to incorporate different cultures and introduced localized perspectives, and therefore the Beijing run features graffiti by artists from Taiwan, who created the work three days before the exhibition opened.

Wu Lan, a soccer fan who visited the show, said she was impressed by "how the exhibition engages people with interactive moments from the various stages of Messi's life".

"For example," she added, "there is an old-fashioned rotary dial telephone. When people pick up the receiver, they can hear Barcelona's managers talking about offering Messi a contract."

She was also taken with a reproduction of Argentine newspaper La Capital from Sept 3, 2000 that shows a picture of then 13-year-old Messi and features an interview with him that reads: "Lionel Messi is... the playmaker of the team. As a boy, he is not only one of the promises of the club's youth system, but he has a huge future…"

"These have built a vivid, touching picture of him," she said. "He is a sports star now, but before that, he was a small boy who remembers the first time he was taken to play football by his grandmother."

The exhibition will travel to Shanghai in June in celebration of the 2026 World Cup Finals, set to take place in North America this summer.