Western media: Messi once talked with Chefering about setting up a player fund. Messi said he would rather not have anything

On May 23, the Spanish media el espanol (La Espanyol) had an exclusive news that Messi had talked with Ceferin and hoped to set up a guarantee fund for players during the epidemic.

Western media said that Pique and then President of the Spanish Football Association Rubiales facilitated the meeting. Pique conveyed Messi's concern about the impact of the epidemic to the head of the Spanish football administration, who then took the initiative to contact Chefering.

Sources from UEFA and Spanish Football Association told Western media that, In the meeting between Messi and Chefering, Messi conveyed the urgency of setting up a fund, first of all for football players who need help most. "If I don't have money to help others, I would rather not have anything," Messi said

Western media said that it was legal to set up such a fund. After February 2020, FIFA and FIFPRO agreed to set up a FIFA football player fund to provide economic assistance to players who were in arrears with their contracts but had no chance to receive payment. However, the UEFA fund could not be set up, and the players finally discussed with the club to postpone the payment of some contract wages. This is the case with Barcelona. Messi and Pique, as well as their other teammates, have reached an agreement to postpone the payment. The media said that they tried to contact relevant personnel, but no response was received.

After the audio leak, Rubiales did not want to make a statement, although he promised that what he did when talking about the "transfer" of funds was "incredible".

During the epidemic, the football associations finally received more than 200 million euros of financial support from FIFA. This money was distributed equally to the associations, and was used to pay medical supplies such as masks and arrears of wages. The destination of this fund must be approved by FIFA.