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Christopher Soria He is not a journalist nor does he want to be called a journalist. Nicknamed “The Uncle”, he is part of the Spanish television program The beach bar He is a Jugones because fate, or his closeness to football, put him there. He was born in Seville and next Wednesday he will turn 55. He was an assistant referee in the Spanish Ascenso for fourteen years and a field delegate, first for Recreativo de Huelva and then for Sevilla – the club of his loves – between 2000 and 2011, successful times for the club in which he was accused of throwing the balls onto the field when the team was winning. He learned that, according to those who know him, when Carlos Bilardo was the technical director of the Spanish team, first in 1992-93 and then in 1996-97. As delegate of Sevilla he celebrated the obtaining of the first two UEFA Cups for that club, in 2006 and 2007 (he won it seven times in total and is the most successful in that competition).
Today Soria comments on soccer games and is part of the El Chiringuito team, the most watched football programme on Spanish television. He became very well known in his country especially because he took on a very proMessi and proBarcelona in the old dichotomy with Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo.
As a die-hard Messi fan, he plays hard as an anti-Madrid fan on the popular television show, to the point that he even made a song against the Portuguese striker. “Where is CR7, CR7 where is he”, says part of the lyrics, later adopted in the Spanish stands. Before (between 2011 and 2013) he had worked in Futboleros, a debate programme on Marca TV, a “tertulia” for the Spanish. Then he was part of the programmes “Tiki-Taka” on Energy and “La goleada” on 13TV, a stopover prior to his landing at El Chiringuito.
In recent days it has gained notoriety in Argentina because traveled especially from Spain to New York to attend Messi’s 37th birthday on Monday, with whom he appeared from a balcony to greet the Argentine fans who showed their love for Messi at the door of the Hilton Short Hills hotel, where the world champion team was staying in New Jersey in the run-up to Tuesday’s agonising 1-0 victory over Chile.
“The meeting with Leo was emotional, exciting, full of passion and dedication on both sides. That happy face on Leo’s face when he looked out onto the balcony sums it all up.”he says from Caracas, where he refereed a match of Las Estrellas de la Liga Monumental, similar to the Spanish Kings League but in Venezuela. This Sunday he will also referee the final of that League, but with “the hope of returning to the United States to see Leo in Miami in another final,” in reference to the decisive match of the Copa América that will be played on July 14 in the Hard Rock Stadium.
“The bond with Leo goes beyond everything professional. They are already emotional bonds, of friendship. It began as a professional bond and over the years it was transformed into closeness and passion, right?” he asks, in dialogue with Infobae from Venezuela.
A sector of the Argentine press targeted Soria: the criticism was for having gone out on the balcony with Messi when the Argentine captain’s birthday was. “I respect everyone’s opinions and I don’t want to generate any controversy. I think it was a wonderful moment for all football lovers, not only for Argentines and Messians. There were more than three thousand people down there with a face of total happiness. People crying, people hugging because they had seen Leo Messi and I prefer to stay with that. The interpretations that each person wants to make are free and I am not going to judge them or enter into any type of controversy. “I’m still emotionally hungover, and I’m not going to let anything cloud that wonderful moment for my retinas,” replied “The Uncle.”
“May I know what topics you spoke about with Messi?”We asked him. And he answered: “We were talking about Argentina’s match against Canada, the match they were going to play against Chile the next day and Argentina’s path to a possible and desired final. Also about Uruguay’s match against Panama. That Uruguay is strong, that it is going to be a tough rival. And that Panama left a good impression despite the defeat. We were talking about the match Venezuela won against Ecuador, about Argentina’s possible match in the quarterfinals against Venezuela and about Bocha Batista’s very good work in the Vinotinto. We went over everything: about his family, his children, mine too. It was a chat between two friends who talk and see each other relatively frequently,” said Soria, who was a referee in the Second Division B of Spain.
These are hectic days for him: since he accompanied Messi on his birthday, his phone has been exploding with messages, especially from journalists from all over the world who want to interview him.
-Messi recently did not rule out the chance to play in the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. It was the first time he left that door open. What feeling do you have?
-My feeling is that at the 2026 World Cup, although it is still a long way off, we will see His Holiness again with the number 10 on the back of the Argentine shirt and the captain’s armband. But I insist that this is just a feeling I have.
Soria is asked to tell the anecdote he remembers most with the Argentina captain. “The anecdotes with Leo are many. He wouldn’t be able to keep just one. But I think that What happened the other day goes beyond any anecdote. I think seeing the happy faces of the 3,000 people who were there at the door of the hotel, those tears and that cake that Leo wanted to share with everyone present, was very powerful. People didn’t eat it, they kept it and wanted to have it as a souvenir, that really caught my attention. And Leo’s happy face when he came out onto the balcony is a memory that will stay with me for the rest of my life,” he replies, excited and with a grimace of happiness that is transmitted.
For Soria, winning the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with Argentina completely changed Messi’s life, turning him into a decidedly happy person. “Leo has a phrase that says ‘the World Cup turned everything upside down’. That phrase is very much his own. ‘The World Cup turned everything upside down’. The reality is that it made us all happy. Not only to Leo and the Argentines. It made the entire football world very happy to see Leo lift that Cup to the sky of Qatar,” he says in a poetic tone, before apologizing because they are waiting for him for an organizational meeting regarding his refereeing task.
