Messi retires from Argentina after 21 years and 125 goals

Lionel Messi has announced his retirement from international football, ending 21 years in the Argentina shirt. He made the announcement on Monday in an emotional message.

He leaves as his country’s most prolific player by a distance: 125 goals in 207 appearances, making him Argentina’s all-time leading scorer. Twenty-one of those goals came at World Cups.

The decision follows Argentina’s defeat to Spain in the 2026 World Cup final on 19 July at the stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Messi captained the side that won the 2022 tournament in Qatar, the trophy that had eluded both him and his country for a generation.

This is not the first time he has stepped away. In 2016, after losing the Copa América final to Chile, Messi announced an international retirement and reversed it within weeks. What separates this announcement is the point in his career it arrives at, and the fact that the World Cup cycle he was chasing has now closed.

Messi will keep playing at club level for Inter Miami in Major League Soccer.