To anyone naming sports figures, no.
It's going to be someone who most people would know about regardless of whether or not they care about the thing that person is famous for. People who don't care about politics will still probably know who Barack Obama is, seeing as how he's probably the most powerful person on the planet right now, and how far reaching the influence of the US presidency is. Whereas, if someone doesn't give a shit about soccer, which, as hard as it may be for some of you to believe, is the case with many people, they probably won't know who the hell Messi is.
As for impoverished regions without any real access to information; My guess is that no world known figure is going to be particularly well known, whether is be a political figure, specific religious leader, sports star, etc. For the sake of this discussion, those regions don't really factor in.