(VIDEO) Lionel Messi Retires From Argentina National Team, Ending His 21 Year International Career This Monday

BUENOS AIRES — Lionel Messi announced his retirement from the Argentina national team Monday, ending a 21-year international career that included a long-awaited World Cup title, in an emotional Instagram post that came weeks after his father’s death and Argentina’s runner-up finish at this summer’s World Cup.

Messi, 39, shared the news in a lengthy statement posted to his social media accounts, accompanied by an image of a handwritten notebook entry. “After all this time since the final, and after thinking about it a lot, I want to tell everyone that I’m retiring from the national team,” Messi wrote. “It was a decision that hurt and still hurts deep inside, but I understand that this is the right moment. I swear I always gave everything, not only in these last few years when we won everything, but before that too. I always fought and gave everything for this shirt, to bring you happiness and make you feel proud to be Argentine through football.”

Messi added a footnote explaining the statement had actually been written weeks earlier, shortly after Argentina’s World Cup final defeat. “I wrote these words on July 21st, two days after the final,” he wrote. “Today, after what happened with my dad, I am even more convinced than before.” Messi’s father and longtime agent, Jorge Messi, died Aug. 8 at a hospital in Rosario, Argentina, at age 68.

The announcement caps one of the most decorated international careers in the history of the sport. Messi finishes as Argentina’s all-time leading goalscorer and most capped player, having scored 124 goals in 203 appearances for the national team, making him the highest-scoring men’s player in South American football history. He led Argentina to victory at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, ending the country’s 36-year wait for the tournament and delivering its third World Cup title overall. That triumph followed Messi’s central role in ending an earlier 28-year trophy drought for Argentina, when he helped the team win the 2021 Copa America and then successfully defended that continental title in 2024.

Messi’s final chapter with the national team came at this summer’s World Cup, hosted jointly across the United States, Mexico and Canada, where the 39-year-old again played a leading role in guiding Argentina back to the final. Argentina ultimately fell 1-0 in extra time to Spain in that match, played July 19 in East Rutherford, New Jersey, a defeat that left Messi visibly emotional on the field afterward.

In his retirement statement, Messi reflected on the totality of his international career rather than dwelling solely on the recent loss. “There is not much time left and chapters are coming to an end, and this is one that hurts me deeply,” he wrote, according to a translation carried by Yahoo Sports. “I leave with the peace of mind and pride of having given you, together with my teammates, moments we dreamed of. It was crazy to have lived it with you. I love you!”

Monday’s announcement marks the second time Messi has stepped away from Argentina’s national team, having previously announced his international retirement in 2016 after Argentina lost the Copa America final to Chile, extending what was then a run of three consecutive final defeats without a major title. Messi reversed that decision within weeks, returning to the squad in time for World Cup qualifying matches later that year, a reversal that ultimately set the stage for the trophies that followed over the subsequent decade.

This time, reports out of Argentina in the weeks following the World Cup final had suggested Messi and national team officials were planning a more gradual farewell, potentially including a specially organized send-off match in Argentina to allow fans to properly honor his career before his final appearance. As of Monday’s announcement, no such farewell match had been publicly scheduled, and it remained unclear whether Messi’s retirement would include any additional ceremonial appearances for the national team or take effect immediately.

Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni, who guided the team throughout Messi’s most successful stretch with the national side, has not yet issued a public statement responding to Monday’s announcement. Messi is expected to continue his club career, which currently continues with Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami, even as his departure from international football closes out a chapter widely regarded as one of the most accomplished in the sport’s history.