Lionel Messi has retired from international soccer, ending a 20-year Argentina career that included the 2022 World Cup title and a second straight World Cup final this summer.
The 39-year-old posted the decision on Instagram on Monday. He said he wrote the note on July 21, two days after Argentina lost the 2026 World Cup final to Spain, and that the death of his father, Jorge, in early August left him “even more convinced than before.”
“It was a decision that hurt — and still hurts — deep in my soul, but I understand that the time has come,” Messi wrote. He said he had “nothing left to give” and that younger players “deserve to be here.”
Messi won 207 caps and scored 125 international goals, records for Argentina. He first played for the senior team in 2005. He captained the side that won the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, reached the final again in 2026, and won Copa América titles in 2021 and 2024.
His last match for Argentina was the final against Spain. He will continue at club level with Inter Miami, where his contract runs through the 2028 Major League Soccer season.
Argentina Football Association president Claudio Tapia called him “the captain of our dreams.” FIFA president Gianni Infantino described him as one of the greatest players the sport has seen.
Messi briefly left the national team in 2016 and later returned. Monday’s statement did not set a date for the end of his club career.
Sources: Reuters; Associated Press; BBC Sport; The Guardian; Messi’s Instagram statement.
