Reviewed by Omotolani Ajileye
Photo: Bryan Berlin / WikiPortraits, CC BY-SA 4.0
Lionel Messi announced his retirement from international football on Monday, seven weeks after Argentina lost the World Cup final to Spain in the United States.
The 39-year-old confirmed the decision in a statement posted to Instagram, revealing he had actually written the message on 21 July, just two days after that final. He delayed publishing it while his father, Jorge, battled the illness that eventually claimed his life on 8 August in Rosario.
Messi leaves the national team as its all-time record scorer and most-capped player, closing a 20-year international career that began with a red card and ended with a trophy cabinet few in the sport’s history can match.
Why did he choose this particular moment to walk away? Messi addressed that directly in his statement. “It was a decision that hurt, and still hurts deeply, but I understand that the time has come,” he wrote, according to a translation carried by NPR.
He explained that his father’s death had strengthened his resolve rather than shaken it. “Today, after what happened with my dad, I’m even more convinced than before,” he added on Instagram.
Messi’s Argentina career very nearly ended a decade earlier under far less triumphant circumstances. After missing a penalty in the 2016 Copa América final shootout defeat to Chile, his fourth major final loss in a row, he initially quit the national team altogether, only to reverse the decision within weeks.
That version of Messi was still chasing his first senior international trophy. The player who retired on Monday leaves having won practically everything the sport offers. A transformation BBC South American football writer Tim Vickery described simply as “the pinnacle” reached through “a race between athlete and time” that no player, however great, ultimately wins.
Numbers alone cannot capture what Messi built with Argentina, though they help explain why Monday’s news landed as a genuine sporting milestone rather than a routine retirement.
He finishes with 125 goals in 207 appearances for his country, both national records, and sits second on the all-time World Cup scoring list with 21 goals, one behind France’s Kylian Mbappé. His 12 World Cup assists remain unmatched by any player in the tournament’s history, with ten of those coming in knockout rounds alone.
Table of Contents
Key Takeaways From Messi’s Retirement Announcement
- Messi retires with 125 goals and 207 caps, both Argentina records
- He captained Argentina to the 2022 World Cup title and Copa América wins in 2021 and 2024
- His father Jorge died on 8 August, shortly before the announcement was made public
- Messi will continue playing club football for Inter Miami under a contract running through 2028
- He finishes second on the all-time World Cup scoring chart, one goal behind Kylian Mbappé
The Redemption Story Behind the Records
Messi’s international legacy was not always destined to look this way. He spent years being measured against Diego Maradona and criticised for failing to replicate his club brilliance in Argentina colours, a narrative that only began shifting after Argentina’s 2021 Copa América triumph over Brazil at the Maracanã. That win unlocked the version of Messi who inspired Argentina to their first World Cup since 1986, scoring in every knockout match at Qatar 2022, including twice in the final against France.
This summer’s tournament offered one final, bittersweet chapter. Messi played all eight of Argentina’s matches and scored eight goals, briefly holding the record for most World Cup goals in history before Mbappé’s late surge overtook him. Argentina reached the final again, only to lose 1-0 to Spain after extra time, a margin that belied how comprehensively the better side won on the day. Vickery, speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, suggested that defeat, layered on top of his father’s declining health, hastened a decision Messi had long known was coming. “You could see Messi, as he looked around the stadium, almost thinking, I don’t think I can go through this again,” Vickery said.
A Farewell Written From the Heart
Messi’s international story closes with his final act coming not in a stadium but in a heartfelt message to supporters. “I’m going to miss hearing you from the pitch so much,” he wrote. “Now I’ll be just one of you, always cheering and supporting from the sidelines”. Argentina must now navigate life without their greatest-ever player for the first time since 2005. Messi himself continues at club level with Inter Miami, having scored four goals in a 7-1 win over CF Montreal just days before making his international exit official.
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