Argentina are not only losing their long-time captain, but also their record appearance-maker and all-time leading goalscorer. Messi won 207 caps and scored 125 goals. His final match came in the World Cup final against Spain, which Argentina lost 1-0 after extra time.
“A decision that still hurts my heart”
Messi announced his farewell in a lengthy written message, explaining that he had spent considerable time thinking about his future. “It was a decision that hurt, and it still hurts my heart,” wrote the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner. At the same time, he felt he had reached the point where he had given everything both physically and emotionally: “I have nothing more to give.”
What is particularly striking is when Messi originally wrote those words. According to the Argentine himself, he drafted the message on 21 July, two days after the World Cup final against Spain, but initially decided not to publish it. Following the death of his father Jorge Messi in August, he said he became even more convinced that his original decision was the right one. In his farewell, Messi also stressed how much he had loved representing Argentina and said he would now support the national team as a fan.
From a difficult beginning to ultimate redemption
Messi’s Argentina career began in remarkable circumstances on 17 August 2005. The then 18-year-old came off the bench in a friendly against Hungary and was shown a red card less than a minute later.
For many years, it appeared that the biggest prizes would elude Messi with his country. Argentina lost the Copa América finals in 2007, 2015 and 2016, as well as the 2014 World Cup final against Germany. After the defeat to Chile at the 2016 Copa América Centenario, Messi even announced his retirement from international football for the first time, only to reverse that decision shortly afterwards.
The long wait for a major senior international trophy finally ended in 2021. Argentina beat Brazil 1-0 in the Copa América final at the Maracanã, with Messi named the tournament’s best player as he lifted his first major trophy with the senior national team at the age of 34.
The most successful spell of his international career then followed. In 2022, Argentina first won the Finalissima against Italy before going on to lift the World Cup in Qatar. Messi scored seven goals during the tournament, including two in the spectacular final against France, and was named the World Cup’s best player. Two years later, Lionel Scaloni’s side successfully defended their continental title at the 2024 Copa América.
Six World Cups and 125 goals
Messi also leaves behind records that will be extraordinarily difficult to surpass. With 207 appearances and 125 goals, he holds Argentina’s two major individual national-team records. He featured at six World Cups, from Germany 2006 through to the 2026 tournament in North America. At his final World Cup, he made his 34th appearance on football’s biggest stage, extending another record.
Even at the age of 39, Messi was far more than a symbolic figure in the squad. He scored eight goals at the 2026 World Cup and once again led the defending champions all the way to the final. In the semi-final against England, he provided the assist for Lautaro Martínez’s decisive goal in a 2-1 victory. Only Spain prevented the perfect ending to an exceptional international career.
Alongside his achievements with the senior side, Messi had already won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2005 and Olympic gold in Beijing in 2008. With the 2022 World Cup triumph and Copa América titles in 2021 and 2024, the story of his Argentina career ultimately changed from one defined for years by near misses into one of the most successful eras in the country’s football history.
Messi will continue with Inter Miami
His international retirement does not, however, mean the end of his playing career. Messi will continue with Inter Miami and showed only last weekend that he is still capable of dominating and deciding matches almost single-handedly, scoring four goals and providing an assist in a 7-1 victory over CF Montréal. That performance took him to 18 league goals for the season and put him top of the MLS scoring charts.
There is no immediate end in sight from a contractual perspective either. Inter Miami have extended their captain’s deal through the end of the 2028 MLS season. Messi could therefore continue playing at club level for more than another two years, by which point he would be 41.
His Argentina chapter, however, is now definitively closed after 207 appearances, 125 goals, six World Cups and the crowning achievement of lifting the trophy in Qatar.
