Lionel Messi has announced his retirement from international football after 20 years of playing football as an international leader. The Argentina captain has stepped down from the team following two decades of international football, and his final World Cup final performance in 2026.
Messi’s last game for Argentina was in the 2026 World Cup final, in which Argentina lost to France 1-0. Although Messi’s performance was not good enough for him to win any international football title, his career with Argentina is still very much a story. Messi experienced almost every emotion in an Argentina shirt from the disappointment of his early years to eventually leading Argentina to the biggest prize in world football.
Messi wrote his retirement message on July 21, only two days after the World Cup final, he said in an emotional message. But he continued to believe that stepping away from international football was the right decision after the death of his father Jorge Messi.
Messi said it hurt but it was the right time to close this chapter of his career. He also looked back on the years he spent trying to make Argentina supporters proud and said he had always devoted himself to the national team.
It is the end of such an international journey that began with 18-year-old Messi making his senior Argentina debut on 17 August 2005 against Hungary. The result was a career of extraordinary individual performances, awful defeats, and, eventually, historic wins.
For years Messi had enormous expectations in Argentina. He came close to major international honours, but suffered painful defeats in the Copa América final in 2007 and the 2014 FIFA World Cup final. Argentina also lost Copa América finals in 2015 and 2016, making Messi even more unlikely to win a senior international trophy.
In 2021 Messi finally won his first major international trophy with Argentina. He was key to the team’s Copa América victory and then Argentina’s win in the 2022 Finalissima over Italy.
The defining moment for his international career came in Qatar’s 2022 World Cup. Messi won Argentina the title after a brilliant tournament and scored twice in the final against France before Argentina eventually won in a penalty shoot-out. He also won the Golden Ball for the tournament and became the first player to win it twice.
Messi's international success continued with another Copa América victory in 2024. That back-to-back Copa América title as well as the World Cup and Finalissima changed the story behind his Argentina career.
His international achievements began long before his senior success. Messi won the FIFA U-20 World Cup with Argentina in 2005 and later helped the country win Olympic gold at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Messi made 207 appearances for Argentina and scored 125 goals and provided 65 assists. They illustrate his record of consistency at international level and he is among the best footballers of all time.
Messi also said in his farewell message that there was a new generation of Argentine players. He said there was not much time left and that different chapters were reaching their conclusion, and that younger players deserve to represent the national team.
Messi’s decision does not end his professional football career. Messi will play club football for Inter Miami, and is one of the great names in Major League Soccer.
But for Argentina fans, Messi’s departure signals the end of an era. Messi was more than the most talented goalscorer or captain. For two decades he was the center of the Argentine football universe.
Messi also thanked his family, coaches, teammates and directors for all they had done to support him in the wins as well as the hard times. He said his time with Argentina had been beautiful but tough and that he would store in his mind forever the memories of the experience.
His last words were a sign of the emotional bond he had built with his country. Messi said he would now support Argentina from the outside, particularly during difficult moments, before ending his message with a passionate “Vamos Argentina!”
Messi leaves the international stage with a legacy few footballers can match. His career from an extremely talented teenager beginning in 2005 to a World Cup winning captain is one of the most inspiring stories in modern football history and it is because of him that Argentina has emerged as a superpower.
