{"id":875458,"date":"2026-08-31T21:50:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T21:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/875458\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T21:50:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T21:50:25","slug":"lionel-messi-retirement-argentina-career-world-cup-loss-social-media-post-dads-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/875458\/","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi retirement; Argentina career; World Cup loss; social media post; dad\u2019s death"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lionel Messi<\/a> has retired from international football. <\/p>\n

The Argentina icon posted twice on Instagram to reveal the news, saying it was a decision that \u201churts to the very soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Lionel Messi after losing the World Cup final. \u00a0AP Photo\/Stephanie Scarbrough<\/p>\n

One post was a video montage of his career with Argentina while the other included a photo with handwritten notes announcing his decision. <\/p>\n

Messi\u2019s decision comes after Argentina lost the World Cup final to Spain<\/a> before his father, Jorge, died on August 8<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the time that has passed since the final, and after giving it a lot of thought, I want to let everyone know that I am retiring from the national team,\u201d he wrote in Spanish, which has been translated to English. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a decision that hurt, and hurts to the very soul, but I understand that the time has come. I swear to you that I always gave it my all: not just in these last few years when we won everything, but before that too; I always fought and left everything on the field for this jersey, to bring you joy and make you feel proud to be Argentine through football.<\/p>\n

\u201cTime 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\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you for all the affection over these past 20 years. I will miss hearing you from the pitch so much. Now I\u2019ll be just one of you, cheering and supporting from the outside (through the good times and the bad, especially the bad).<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you to my family for always being there, for accompanying me on this journey, so beautiful, yet so difficult. Thank you to every coach, team-mate, and official I\u2019ve shared this path with. I take with me unforgettable memories and moments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI leave with the peace of mind and pride of having given you, alongside my team-mates, moments we once only dreamed of. It was an incredible experience to live this with you all. I love you!<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you, God, for making me Argentine. \u2018Let\u2019s go, Argentina!\u2019\u201c<\/p>\n

Messi added he wrote the words two days after the World Cup final and that his father\u2019s death convinced him even more that it was the right decision to retire. <\/p>\n

The Inter Miami forward captained Argentina to victory in the 2022 World Cup.<\/p>\n

Messi finishes with 125 goals from 207 appearances for his nation. <\/p>\n

Along with the 2022 World Cup win, the 39-year-old lifted the Copa Am\u00e9rica twice in 2021 and 2024.<\/p>\n

He also won the Olympics in 2008 with the under 23s side.<\/p>\n

Individually, he has claimed the Ballon d\u2019Or on eight occasions and won the FIFA World Cup golden ball twice. <\/p>\n

The retirement announcement sparked a wave of reactions.<\/p>\n

Argentina President Javier Milei wrote on Instagram: \u201cThank you very much, impossible man.\u201d<\/p>\n

FIFA President Gianni Infantino praised Messi \u201cfor an extraordinary international career that has inspired millions of people and redefined our sport. Your magical talent and humility will be remembered forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Messi<\/p>\n

Lionel Messi played 207 games for Argentina and finishes as its all-time leading scorer with 125 goals, 21 of them in World Cups\u00a0AP<\/p>\n

The Argentine Football Association wrote: \u201cThank you for everything, Leo. Thank you for representing Argentina. Thank you for making us dream. Thank you for turning so many dreams into reality. The legend is yours, forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Argentina and Inter Miami teammate Rodrigo De Paul highlighted on social media \u201cyour unconditional love for our country, your internal battles to never give up, your strength in always enduring injustices, and your leadership and character in your dealings with every player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leandro Paredes, another Argentina teammate, said, \u201cThank you for absolutely everything. You are and always will be the greatest of all time. We love you, Captain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defender Cristian Romero said: \u201cI love you, I admire you, and I will always be grateful for the impact you\u2019ve had on me and on our country. Thank you for so much, Captain.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the numbers: Messi\u2019s dazzling Argentina career 1<\/p>\n

Messi won the World Cup once, in Qatar in 2022. He also reached the final two other times \u2014 in 2014 and 2026 when losing to Germany and Spain, respectively.<\/p>\n

6<\/p>\n

The number of World Cups in which Messi played (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022 and 2026), which is tied for the most with long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo.<\/p>\n

21<\/p>\n

Messi scored 21 goals across those six World Cups. That is second only to France’s Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, who has 22 and has played in just three tournaments.<\/p>\n

39<\/p>\n

Messi was aged 39 when he announced his international retirement – 21 years after making his debut for Argentina in a friendly against Hungary in August 2005. He barely lasted a minute of that game before getting sent off for elbowing an opponent.<\/p>\n

125<\/p>\n

Messi scored 125 international goals and that\u2019s more than double the amount netted by any other Argentina player. The previous record was held by Gabriel Batistuta, who scored 54 in 78 appearances from 1991-2002. It is, though, second to Cristiano Ronaldo (146 goals) in the all-time scoring list in men\u2019s international football.<\/p>\n

207<\/p>\n

The total number of international appearances by Messi, which also is a national record but not an all-time record in men’s football. Once again, he’s No. 2 in the list behind Cristiano Ronaldo, who has played 233 games for Portugal.<\/p>\n

– with AP and Sam Worthington<\/p>\n

Football\u2019s\u00a0new home, Stan Sport<\/a>, is the only place to watch the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, FA Cup, WSL, J.League, NWSL and K League<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi has retired from international football. The Argentina icon posted twice on Instagram to reveal the news,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":875459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-875458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}