BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Lionel Messi has announced his retirement from international football, bringing an extraordinary 21-year career with Argentina to an end at the age of 39.
The Argentina captain confirmed his decision on Monday in an emotional message to supporters, saying the choice “hurts” but that he understands the time has come to step aside and allow a new generation of players to take over.
“It was a decision that hurt – and still hurts deep down – but I understand that the time has come,” Messi said.
He said he had given everything to Argentina, not only during the years in which the team finally began winning major trophies, but throughout the difficult years that preceded them.
Messi, who made his senior Argentina debut in 2005, leaves the national team after 207 appearances and a record 125 goals. He played in six World Cups, winning the 2022 tournament in Qatar and leading Argentina to another final in 2026, where they lost 1-0 to Spain.
His international career also included two Copa América titles, in 2021 and 2024, completing a remarkable transformation for a player who once endured years of disappointment with the national team.
‘The time has come’
Messi said the emergence of younger players had also influenced his decision.
“There are some great young players coming up who deserve to be here,” he said.
The decision brings an end to one of the defining careers in international football. Messi’s Argentina journey began with enormous expectations but also painful defeats, including losses in the 2014 World Cup final and the 2015 and 2016 Copa América finals.
For years, he was compared with Diego Maradona and questioned over his inability to reproduce his club success with Argentina.
Then everything changed.
The 2021 Copa América ended Argentina’s 28-year wait for a major senior men’s international trophy. A year later came the World Cup in Qatar, where Messi captained Argentina to victory and finally claimed the trophy that had become the great unfinished chapter of his career.
Argentina then reached the 2026 World Cup final, giving Messi an opportunity to end his international career with another title. Spain won 1-0 in extra time.
Messi said he had written his retirement message shortly after that final but delayed making it public. The death of his father, Jorge Messi, in August reinforced his decision, according to reports.
‘Peace and pride’
Despite the painful ending, Messi said he leaves Argentina with gratitude rather than regret.
“I leave with the peace of mind and pride of having given you — alongside my teammates — moments we once only dreamed of,” he wrote.
He thanked Argentina’s supporters, his teammates, coaches, directors and his family for standing with him throughout a career that began when he was a teenager.
Messi’s retirement does not mean the end of his playing career. He is expected to continue playing club football with Inter Miami in Major League Soccer.
But the blue-and-white shirt will now belong to someone else.
For Argentina, the question is not simply who replaces Messi’s goals. It is whether anyone can replace what he became: the player around whom an entire footballing generation organised its hopes, arguments, disappointments and, eventually, its celebrations.
Maradona had once been the ghost hanging over Argentina football.
Messi became the man who finally stepped out of that shadow.
Now he, too, is leaving the stage.