Claim: A video allegedly shows the president of Al-Ittihad gifting presents to Lionel Messi and his family.
Conclusion: The claim is false. The video shows CONMEBOL president Alejandro Domínguez presenting gifts to Messi and his family, not the president of Al-Ittihad or any Saudi club official. There is no credible evidence or proof that anyone from Al-Ittihad has recently given any gifts to Messi.
Rating: False 
Several social media users have shared a video and claimed that Al-Ittihad club president has gifted Lionel Messi a present. Verified X user ‘Desmund_Oris’ shared such a post with the caption : “Al Ittihad president gifts Lionel Messi and his family some present. Messi is more loved at Saudi Arabia than Ronaldo who plays there.” Attached to the post is a 56 second video which claims to show this interaction. View the post below –
Al Ittihad president gifts Lionel Messi and his family some present.
Messi is more loved at Saudi Arabia than Ronaldo who plays there 😂😂😂 https://t.co/Ru9DUL8fWL
— DesmundOris (@Desmund_Oris) October 7, 2026
Other users have shared similar claims that can be seen here and here
FACT CHECK
DigitEYE India decided to investigate this claim and found it to be false. The footage captures CONMEBOL president Alejandro Domínguez handing gifts to Messi and his family. It does not feature Al-Ittihad’s president or any representative of a Saudi football club.
Details:
We first conducted a reverse image search on various keyframes of the video to learn more. The search results took us to a Youtube short titled : “Alejandro Dominguez the president of CONMEBOL gifted the legendary Messi the GOAT”. Upon conducting a web search, we confirmed that the person in the video is indeed Alejandro Dominguez.
Following this, we conducted a web search with the phrase “Alejandro Dominguez meets Lionel Messi” to learn more. According to a report by GOAL, “CONMEBOL chief Dominguez has openly talked up the chance of Messi returning to his boyhood club Newell’s before retiring.” The report states that while Messi is retiring from international football, “the dream of a homecoming to his boyhood club is being kept alive by one of South America’s most powerful figures.”
Another report by Van Guardian (translated into English) also confirms that “Alejandro Dominguez…prepared several gifts” for Messi and his family. The report has embedded Alejandro Dominguez’s official X post whose visuals match the footage in the claim. The post mentions the gifts including a “ring, a bracelet, a trophy, and a very special ball, four objects that reflect his story and his conquests.”
Los detalles de los regalos del fútbol sudamericano para Lionel Messi y su familia.
Un anillo, un brazalete, un trofeo y una pelota muy especial, cuatro objetos que reflejan su historia y sus conquistas.
Nada es suficiente para una leyenda tan grande. ¡Gracias por tanto, Leo! https://t.co/3C30kym7Z5
— Alejandro Domínguez (@agdws) October 7, 2026
Lastly, DigitEYE India conducted a web search to verify the identity of the actual president of Al-Ittihad football club. According to the club’s official website, Reda Batterjee is the chairman of the board. He is not the person seen in the footage circulating with the claim. Furthermore, there is no credible news report or evidence to support the claim that Al-Ittihad gifted anything to Messi.
Thus, the claim is false.
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