Ahead of FIFA World Cup 2022, India's popular Ed-tech platform BYJU's announced that the company has roped International Football star Lionel Messi as the first global brand ambassador for its social impact arm, Education For All.

BYJU's co-founder Divya Gokulnath said, "We are honored and excited to collaborate with Lionel Messi as our global ambassador. He rose from the grassroots to become one of the most successful sportspersons ever. That is the kind of opportunity that BYJU'S Education For All (EFA) wants to create for the nearly 5.5 million children it currently empowers. No one represents the power of enhancing human potential more than Lionel Messi."

This comes at a time when the company has done a mass layoff and later apologise to the employees and ask for forgiveness for their mass firing of employees through mails.

As per PTI reports, with Messi being the brand ambassador, the company will have advantage globally as there are huge football fans from all over the world, roughly 3.5 billion fans worldwide, and also the footballer, Messi himself nearly 450 million followers in his social media.

"It is not really surprising that the greatest player of all time is also the greatest learner of all time. I am sure this partnership will inspire millions of people around the world to dream bigger and learn better," Gokulnath added.

Earlier, BYJU's also became the official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 2022 which is going to kick off from November 20 in Qatar.

"The long-term engagement, which begins as Lionel Messi embarks on his final campaign to win the FIFA World Cup 2022 as captain of Argentina's national football team, will see him feature in campaigns promoting BYJU'S Education For All," the statement said.

"High-quality education changes lives, and BYJU'S has transformed the career paths of millions of students worldwide. I hope to inspire young learners to reach and remain at the top," Messi said.