Messi's New Yacht: $8.8 Million Catamaran Built in Poland
Lionel Messi has reportedly placed an order for a new luxury catamaran, according to German outlet Bild, in a purchase that underlines just how far the Argentine superstar’s commercial reach now extends beyond the football pitch. The boat is said to be a Sunreef Yachts Ultima 88, a large twin-hulled sailing catamaran from the Polish shipyard Sunreef, with a price tag reported at roughly eight to nine million euros — about 8.8 million US dollars at current rates.
Sunreef Yachts is a Polish builder headquartered in Gdansk, on the Baltic coast, known for custom sailing and power catamarans. Catamarans — boats with two parallel hulls instead of one — have become popular among wealthy buyers because they offer a wide, stable platform, generous living space and shallow draft, letting owners anchor in bays where a conventional monohull could not go. The Ultima line sits at the top of the company’s range, aimed at owners who want long-range cruising without giving up hotel-style comfort.
As described in the reports, the configuration is thoroughly built for leisure. The yacht has five cabins, roomy lounging decks for sun and shade, and a dedicated garage for storing jet skis — a common feature on large catamarans that lets owners carry water toys without cluttering the deck. Two engines of 1,000 horsepower each provide propulsion, giving the boat serious speed for its size. The design reportedly emphasises comfort and privacy, two priorities for a figure who is followed everywhere he goes.
The order was placed with the Gdansk yard, where the catamaran will be constructed. Poland has quietly become a notable player in European boatbuilding, with Baltic shipyards producing everything from small cruising yachts to large custom multihulls. Sunreef has built a reputation in that market by specialising almost entirely in catamarans, a niche it has pushed toward the luxury end.
For Messi, the purchase is the latest in a long line of off-field ventures. Since moving to Major League Soccer side Inter Miami, he has combined playing with a growing business portfolio that includes apparel, beverages, real estate and technology investments, alongside endorsement deals built over two decades at the summit of the game. A custom yacht fits the pattern: high-value, highly personal, and reported well before anyone steps aboard.
Details of the yacht’s interior, delivery schedule and final specification have not been confirmed by the builder or by Messi’s representatives, and the figures circulating come from press reports rather than official statements. That has not stopped the story from travelling quickly, especially among football fans who track the lifestyles of the sport’s biggest names as closely as their statistics.
What the reports do make clear is the scale of the modern superstar economy. A player’s earnings now rest on a global web of brands, licensing and investments, and the visible markers of that wealth — homes, cars, watches, boats — become stories in their own right. A catamaran built on the Baltic for an Argentine icon in Florida is a neat illustration of how far that web stretches.
Whether the Ultima 88 ever appears in Miami’s waters remains to be seen. For now, the story is a reminder that in football’s upper tier, the transfer market is only one of many places where money moves.