Lionel Messi has played his last game representing Argentina, the soccer star announced Monday.
The 39-year-old Messi’s retirement from the national team comes 20 years after his first appearance and ends a career with La Albiceleste that saw him score 125 goals and add 68 assists in 207 matches.
Messi played in six World Cups, winning in 2022 and playing in the 2014 and 2026 finals. He became the all-time leading scorer in World Cup history during the tournament this summer with 21 goals, only for France’s Kylian Mbappé to overtake him with 22 goals.
“I leave with the peace of mind and pride of having given you —together with my teammates — moments we’d only dreamed of,” Messi wrote on social media, in a translation from Spanish. “It was incredible to have lived through it all with you.”
Messi posted that he wrote the announcement of his retirement two days after Argentina’s loss to Spain in July’s World Cup final, and after a pause that included mourning the death of his father, “I’m more convinced than ever” it was time to take off Argentina’s famed blue-and-white-striped kit.
“It was a decision that hurt — and still hurts — deep in the soul, but I understand that it’s time,” Messi wrote. “I swear to you that I always gave it my all — not just in recent years, but even before we won everything — and I always fought hard and gave everything I had for this jersey, to bring you joy and make you proud to be Argentine through soccer.”
“There’s not much time left, and chapters are coming to a close —and this is one that hurts me deeply. I love, have loved, and will always love being on the national team. I’ve given it my all; I have nothing left to give, and besides, there are some truly great young players coming up who deserve their spot,” he wrote.
“Thank you for all the love over these 20 years. I’m going to miss hearing from you all so much from the sidelines. Now I’ll be just one of you, always cheering and supporting from the sidelines (through the good times and the bad — especially the bad),” he said.
Messi continues to play professionally for the MLS club Inter Miami.
While playing for the giant Spanish club Barcelona, Messi quickly found success and rose to prominence as a transcendent talent in the early 2010s. His path with his national team was rockier, however.
Messi was best known for leading Argentina to major finals such as the Copa América, the storied tournament between South American nations, and the 2014 World Cup, only to lose. After his third Copa América final defeat in 2016, a loss that included a penalty miss by Messi in a shootout, Messi said, “For me, the national team is over. I’ve done all I can. It hurts not to be a champion. ... It was the thing I wanted the most but, I couldn’t get it, so I think it’s over. I think this is best for everyone.”
Only weeks later, Messi reversed course and recommitted to playing for his nation.
“I see there are many problems in Argentinian football, and I don’t intend to create another one,” he said in 2016. “I don’t want to cause any damage. I’ve always tried to do just the opposite, to help all that I can.”
“We need to fix many things in Argentinian football, but I prefer to do this from inside and not criticize from outside,” he said.
Messi’s inability to lead Argentina to titles early in his career even earned criticism from Diego Maradona, the Argentine legend who led the country to the World Cup title in 1986 and later coached Messi with the national team. Both wore the No. 10 jersey, and Messi was constantly compared to Maradona.
“We shouldn’t deify Messi any longer,” Maradona said in an interview with Fox Sports. “He’s Messi when he plays for Barcelona. Messi is Messi when he wears that shirt, and he’s another Messi with Argentina.”
The national team’s fortunes did not change overnight with Messi’s return in 2016, including an exit in the round of 16 in 2018 and a third-place finish in the 2019 Copa América. Once international soccer resumed following Covid-related delays, however, Argentina and Messi won the 2021 Copa América and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and repeated as Copa champion in 2024.
His World Cup performance this summer showed that Messi’s gifts for scoring had not been degraded by age. His eight goals were second only to Mbappé for the tournament, and Messi added four assists, as well.
