Jorge Mes­si, the fa­ther of soc­cer star and Ar­genti­na cap­tain Li­onel Mes­si, died Sat­ur­day at a hos­pi­tal in the cen­tral Ar­genti­na city of Rosario. He was 68.

The Rosario-based Club Atléti­co Newell’s Old Boys an­nounced his death in a so­cial me­dia post that said he had un­der­gone treat­ment in re­cent months for an un­spec­i­fied ill­ness. The post de­scribed him as “the pil­lar and the per­son who, with vi­sion, rig­or and af­fec­tion, sup­port­ed the ca­reer of the best play­er of all time, along­side his wife, Celia Cuc­cit­ti­ni.”

The South Amer­i­can Foot­ball Con­fed­er­a­tion, CON­MEBOL, in a state­ment al­so of­fered its con­do­lences “with re­spect and af­fec­tion for Li­onel.”