--- title: Armando the Pigeon Sells for More Than a Million in Auction description: Champion pigeon Armando is the "Lionel Messi" of birds, who just sold for $1.4 million in auction because it's that good at sky sports. canonical: https://time.com/5554173/armando-pigeon-auction/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-03-19T14:18:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:09.268Z og:title: 'Lionel Messi' of Racing Birds Sells for $1.4 Million og:description: Because it's that good og:url: https://time.com/5554173/armando-pigeon-auction/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc04889273af88a6/698946ea86f68e8c7e6eb891/armando-angouleme-pigeon-auction.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1520 og:image:height: 855 og:image:alt: Belgian racing pigeon auction og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Lionel Messi' of Racing Birds Sells for $1.4 Million twitter:description: Because it's that good twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc04889273af88a6/698946ea86f68e8c7e6eb891/armando-angouleme-pigeon-auction.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Man Shells Out $1.4 Million for a Pigeon Because It's Simply the 'Lionel Messi' of Racing Birds > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Mar 19, 2019 2:18 PM UTC  Belgian racing pigeon, Armando. Belgian racing pigeon, Armando. PIPA by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Mar 19, 2019 2:18 PM UTC Don’t bet against the high-flying lifestyle of [rare bird and sports](http://time.com/5519736/superb-owls/). A buyer has bid more than $1.4 million for a champion Belgian [racing pigeon](http://time.com/5426960/caroll-spinney/) in a sale, according to the [auction house](https://www.pipa.be/en/newsandarticles/reports/armando-joel-verschoots-record-breaking-pigeon-video) Pipa, which oversaw the online auction for the rare bird. This regal, emerald green-feathered bird is no regular pigeon you would frequent on the street — as you probably imagined. In fact, lest you underestimate the athleticism of the mighty bird named “Armando,” look no further than this endorsement. Nikolaas Gyselbrecht, the founder and chief executive of Pipa, told the [Press Association](https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/discover/lionel-messi-of-pigeons-sold-for-record-fee-of-more-than-125m-911795.html): “This pigeon has a race record that has never been matched by any other pigeon.” “In football terms you have Messi and Ronaldo – it’s that level.” The praise for “Armando” continued from there.  PIPA “This is a crowning glory of all those years in the pigeon sport. The icing on the cake,” Joël Verschoot said of the unique bird he put up for auction, according to [the _Guardian_](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/18/belgium-racing-pigeon-armando-sold-world-record-chinese-bidder)_._ Indeed, Armando is apparently a champ who really goes the distance. As to why a bird fetched such a high price, it comes down to Armando’s particular knack for the long-distance competition in China, where bird racing is a popular draw. Bird owners can win plenty of their money back by betting on the correct winged competitor, with prizes in the tens of thousands of dollars. That being said, your typical racer bird fetches $2,838, according to [the BBC](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47610896). “This type of champion is rarely offered for sale,” according to the auction site. The high price leapt from $600,000 to $1.4 million in the final moments of bidding, according to the auction site, which features a close-up snapshot of the bird’s eye for reasons unknown. Go Armando. > [](https://twitter.com/Henry%5FBelot/status/1107839427718475777) > [](https://twitter.com/Rabe9/status/1107860159156490241) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5554173/armando-pigeon-auction/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5554173/armando-pigeon-auction/"},"headline":"Man Shells Out $1.4 Million for a Pigeon Because It's Simply the 'Lionel Messi' of Racing Birds","datePublished":"2019-03-19T14:18:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:46:09.268Z","description":"Champion pigeon Armando is the \"Lionel Messi\" of birds, who just sold for $1.4 million in auction because it's that good at sky sports.","url":"https://time.com/5554173/armando-pigeon-auction/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Bizarre","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc04889273af88a6/698946ea86f68e8c7e6eb891/armando-angouleme-pigeon-auction.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc04889273af88a6/698946ea86f68e8c7e6eb891/armando-angouleme-pigeon-auction.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Belgian racing pigeon auction","caption":"Racing pigeon Armando","creditText":"PIPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5554173/armando-pigeon-auction/","name":"Man Shells Out $1.4 Million for a Pigeon Because It's Simply the 'Lionel Messi' of Racing Birds"}}]}] ```