Lionel Messi retires from international football after Argentina’s World Cup final defeat to Spain
Lionel Messi has announced his retirement from international football, bringing an end to a 21-year career with Argentina that spanned more than 200 caps, 125 goals and a long-awaited World Cup triumph. The 39-year-old confirmed the decision on Monday afternoon, stating that he had reached it two days after Argentina’s 1-0 defeat to Spain in the World Cup final on 19 July. He described the moment as “the right time,” and added in a note that the death of his father, Jorge, at the beginning of the month had left him “even more convinced than before.”
In a statement posted on Instagram, Messi wrote that after the time that had passed since the final, and after much reflection, he wished to announce that he was retiring from the national team. “It was a decision that hurt, and still hurts, to my core, but I understand that it’s the right time,” he said. He insisted he had always given everything for the Argentina shirt, not only in the recent years of success but earlier as well, fighting to bring joy to supporters and to make them proud through football.
A career measured in longevity and silverware
Messi made his senior debut for Argentina in 2005 as an 18-year-old. Over the following two decades he became the side’s record appearance-maker and goalscorer, captaining the nation to its third World Cup title in Qatar in 2022. Eight of his international goals came during the most recent World Cup, staged across the United States, Mexico and Canada. He also collected two Copa América trophies. In his retirement message he stated that he had “nothing more to give” and expressed confidence that a generation of talented younger players stood ready to take the team forward.
He thanked supporters for two decades of love and backing, saying he would miss hearing them from the pitch and would now join them in cheering from the sidelines in good times and bad. He expressed gratitude to his family for accompanying him on a journey he described as beautiful but difficult, and to every coach, teammate and official with whom he had worked. He left, he said, with peace and pride at having delivered, together with his teammates, “dreamlike moments.” The statement closed with a simple declaration of love for the country and the words “Thank you, God, for making me Argentinian. Go Argentina!”
Team-mates pay tribute
Members of the Argentina squad responded quickly on social media. Rodrigo De Paul, widely regarded as one of Messi’s closest colleagues in the national set-up, posted a lengthy message on his Instagram story. He praised Messi’s unconditional love for the country, his refusal to surrender in the face of internal struggles, his leadership, and the small gestures that made every player and staff member feel welcome. “Simply thank you, the greatest of all time,” De Paul wrote. “Thank you for making us so incredibly happy, you can’t imagine how many smiles you brought to our faces. You are eternal.”
Ángel Di María, Cristian Romero and others added their own messages of affection and respect. Leandro Paredes, who is currently serving a ten-match ban from international football for his conduct after the final, called Messi “the greatest of all” and thanked him for “absolutely everything,” signing off with “We love you, captain.”
The loss of Jorge Messi
The retirement announcement came in the shadow of a deeper personal grief. Jorge Messi died on 7 August after an illness that had already cast a shadow over Argentina’s World Cup campaign. Lionel had broken down in tears after a group-stage victory over Algeria while his father’s condition deteriorated. In an Instagram letter written at the time, he said he still could not believe his father was gone, struggled to imagine never speaking with him again, and admitted to serious doubts about whether he would continue playing football for much longer. Jorge had been present from the beginning of his career, Messi wrote, and had been the driving force behind his decision to appear at this summer’s World Cup. He would not, he made clear, attempt a record seventh World Cup appearance at the age of 43.
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Tributes to Jorge arrived from across the game, including from Messi’s boyhood club Newell’s Old Boys, from Barcelona, and from Cristiano Ronaldo, who had lost his own father in 2005 and offered “much strength” during “tough times.”
Club career continues in Miami
Messi is expected to carry on playing at club level with Inter Miami in Major League Soccer, where his contract runs until 2028. Even amid the emotional strain of recent weeks he produced a reminder of his enduring quality, scoring four goals in a 7-1 league victory over CF Montreal. His club journey began in 2000 when he left Newell’s Old Boys for Barcelona’s La Masia academy. He spent 21 years at the Catalan club, establishing himself as one of the finest players in the sport’s history, before a move to Paris Saint-Germain in 2021 that was orchestrated by Jorge. In 2023 he joined Inter Miami, where he now enters his forties.
With Argentina he leaves having won five major titles, the pinnacle remaining the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. In that tournament he scored seven goals, including two in the final against France at Lusail Stadium. The defeat to Spain this summer became his second World Cup final disappointment, following the loss to Germany in 2014.
An era closes
Messi’s international retirement removes from the global game a figure many regard as the greatest of his generation, and some as the greatest of any generation. His statement struck a note of finality tempered by gratitude: pain at the decision, pride in what had been achieved, and an acceptance that the time had come to step aside for others. For Argentina supporters the image of Messi in the blue-and-white shirt has defined two decades of hope, frustration and eventual glory. He will now watch from the stands, as he put it, as one of them—still present, no longer responsible for delivering the moments that once depended so heavily on his talent alone.
The football world has already begun to catalogue the achievements and the memories. For Messi himself the immediate reality is simpler and more personal. He has said goodbye to the national team that shaped his public life, done so in the aftermath of a final defeat and the loss of the father who guided his path, and chosen to continue, for now, only at club level in the United States. The record books will list the caps, the goals and the trophies. His own words emphasised something harder to quantify: that he had given everything he had for the shirt, and that he leaves with peace.
