and his father Jorge have lost their appeal to Spain's Supreme Court against a 21-month prison sentence for tax fraud.
The 29-year-old, five-times world player of the year, was found guilty by a
court last July on three counts of tax fraud between 2007 and 2009, resulting in a suspended 21-month prison sentence and fine of €2million (£1.75m).
Messi's father Jorge was given the same sentence and ordered to pay a fine of €1.5m (£1.3m).
Spanish law is such that any sentence under two years for a non-violent crime rarely requires a defendant without previous convictions to serve jail time.
Messi, 29, and his father defrauded the Spanish tax office of almost €4.2m (£3.6m) from 2007-09 by using a web of shell companies to avoid taxes on income from the player's image rights.
