Kolkata: The first time he announced retirement from international football, it lasted less than three months. Because between those torment-riddled days from June 27 to September 1 in 2016 and now, Lionel Messi has won everything football has to offer, played more than double the number of international matches Diego Maradona did, on way to equalling the achievements of the patron saint of Argentina men’s football team, if it feels way more real this time it is.
He is the only player to have won the Golden Ball twice. Messi’s announcement came hours after Novak Djokovic lost in the US Open first round. Messi’s World Cup legacy will take some beating. The last time that happened was in the year Messi played his first World Cup. Djokovic hasn’t yet spoken the r-word but men’s tennis has new stars. Time to make way, time to end a journey as a captain that began in a friendly against Venezuela in Kolkata.
He is also 39 and had before Monday’s announcement at least twice hinted that the end was near. The first was before the 2026 World Cup final and then after his father Jorge died earlier this month when he said, “my legs couldn’t go on anymore. Ending a saga that began against Hungary in 2005 – with a red card — not long after winning the world under-20 championship and had 207 matches for Argentina could not have been. Messi has returned to playing for Inter Miami where he has a contract till 2028. That is also when the next Copa America is due but Messi has decided that at 41, he didn’t want to be around when Argentina attempt a hattrick of titles. Between them, Messi and Ronaldo won every Ballon d’Or from 2008 to 2017 and in 2019, 2021 and 2023. Ronaldo won his first international tournament before Messi and has more goals for his country (146 to Messi’s 125) but the Argentine has since left him behind with a World Cup and two Copa America titles. No one has played as many finals matches (34) and only one player, Kylian Mbappe, has scored more World Cup goals than Messi’s 21. His 33 goal contributions in the World Cup helped Argentina to three final appearances (only Cafu has that many). Ten goal contributions (7 goals, three assists) came in the edition Argentina won to end a 36-year wait. In 15 games of the last two editions of the World Cup that he played, Messi was adjudged player of the match in 10.
And yet it was not an easy decision, he said. Cristiano Ronaldo is 41 now and he has also said that 2026-27 would “probably” be his last year as a player. As Messi has said, Argentina’s football team are not lacking in them either.
Messi amplified what Maradona did in the 91 times he represented Argentina: get most of the world to love them. If dropping Maradona’s name released Argentine tourists from the clutches of Egyptian bandits, in Qatar head coach Lionel Scaloni thanked Bangladesh for backing Argentina. “Time is running short, chapters come to a close, and this is one that hurts me deeply. I love, have loved, and will always love being part of the national team. I’ve given everything I had; I have nothing left to give, and besides, there are some great young players coming up who deserve to be here. Argentina has five Nobel laureates and it is the country of the short story writer and polyglot Jorge Luis Borges. But for the world at large, it is the men’s football team Argentina are known for.
“It was a decision that hurt – and still hurts deep down – but I understand that the time has come,” Messi said. After his father’s death, Messi had said: “I don’t know what I am going to do without you, I don’t know how to go on.
