Messi set for Argentina farewell as club and business plans expand
Lionel Messi will play his final match for Argentina in a friendly against Benin at the Monumental in Buenos Aires, a game that will be his 208th appearance for the national team; he announced his retirement from international duty on 31 August, six weeks after the World Cup final defeat by Spain, saying he had nothing more to give. The 36-year-old leaves as Argentina's most-capped player and record goal scorer.
Coach Lionel Scaloni has said Messi could continue with Argentina if he ever wished to change his mind, but the forward’s club career remains active: his Inter Miami contract runs to the end of the 2028 season and is reviewed year by year, and those close to him expect he will not step away before the contract requires it. Asked whether he would prefer to be a coach or an owner, Messi chose owner, describing a role that allows direction from a distance rather than the week-to-week pressures of management.
Messi has already started assembling a football operation in Spain, buying UE Cornella — a fifth-tier club on the edge of Barcelona — in April. On 1 October CD Eldense, then in the second division, announced Messi as its new owner subject to authorisation from the Spanish sports council, the CSD; former Villarreal coach Javi Calleja was appointed after the takeover with the immediate objective of avoiding relegation.
The plan is to run UE Cornella and Eldense through trusted intermediaries until Messi can devote more of his time, and he follows every Eldense match on his computer. After Eldense’s 4-1 win over Real Oviedo, his first message as owner on Instagram read "Aupa Deportivo", and around a dozen sponsors approached the club within days, including brands that had been negotiating with the previous owners and some that already had existing relationships with him.
Messi and Luis Suárez founded Deportivo LSM in Uruguay in May 2025 and the club won promotion to the country’s third tier in its first season. A wider network of clubs was discussed early on, but the sums required to move them up the divisions have cooled that idea and it is not on the table today; Messi’s present focus is on whether Eldense can establish itself in La Liga.
There is a formal link to Miami in Messi’s contract: he will receive some shares in Inter Miami when he retires from playing, though acquiring a separate franchise is not part of the plan. A return to Newell’s Old Boys in Rosario has never been formally discussed and is not expected by those close to him; his longer-term base appears centred on Europe and Miami, with a family home waiting in Castelldefels near Barcelona.
Off the pitch Messi has built a diverse commercial portfolio. Forbes estimated his net worth at about $1.1bn in June, with earnings of around $140m over the previous year split between football and business; his best-known endorsement remains the lifetime Adidas deal signed in 2017. His MiM Hotels brand comprises six boutique properties from Ibiza to Andorra, run under a rental agreement by Melia since 1 November 2025, and MiM takes its name from Messi and the Majestic hotel group.
In Rosario his family company is invested in Carrasco M, a development of 24 homes by the Paraná river with Ángel Di María’s property agency handling sales, and he is a partner in El Club de la Milanesa, which plans five branches in Catalonia beginning in Castelldefels. He has a mate collection with Stanley — the brand’s first multi-year deal with an athlete — on which he advised materials and colours. His father Jorge Messi, who died in August aged 68, originally managed his affairs and some early advice led to difficulties with Spanish tax authorities; the family business later expanded into TV production, marketing, media and commercial partnerships, operated by people Messi trusts.
Speaking in Miami last November, Messi said: "Business is something that interests me. I would like to keep learning because I know nothing and I am just starting out." The next confirmed engagement in his off-field programme is the Messi Cup, which expands to 16 under-16 academies from 25 October at Inter Miami’s facilities in Florida and features teams including Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Arsenal and UE Cornella.
