Lionel Messi announces retirement from international football

Lionel Messi confirmed his retirement from international football with the Argentina national team on Monday, saying the decision came after the final match and long reflection.

The Inter Miami forward made the announcement in an official statement on his Instagram account.

“After all this time since the final match, and after long reflection, I want to announce to everyone that I have decided to retire from playing with the national team,” the caption read. “It was a painful decision and it still hurts me deep down, but I realise that the time has come. I swear to you that I always gave everything I had, not only during the recent years in which we achieved everything, but before that too, and I always fought and gave all I have for this shirt, to make you happy and make you feel proud to be Argentine through football. “There is not much left, and the stages have begun to reach their end, and this is one of them that hurts me greatly. I love, I have loved, and I will always love being with the national team. I have exhausted everything I have, and I no longer have any more to give, alongside the presence of a group of wonderful young players who deserve to get their chance.”

The Argentine skipper is his country’s all-time top goal scorer and most-capped player. Messi has 125 goals in 207 appearances with the national team. He is the most prolific goalscorer in South American football history.

He has been in six FIFA World Cups, won the event in Qatar in 2022 and led Argentina to the final in 2026, ultimately losing to Spain.

Lionel Messi won four major trophies with La Albiceleste, and the announcement was posted on his Instagram account with a post shared by Leo Messi (@leomessi).

“Thank you for all this love over 20 years. I will miss hearing your voices from inside the stadium very much, and now I will become one of you, always supporting and backing the national team from the outside, in good times and bad, and especially in the difficult times,” Messi continued. “Long live Argentina!”