Argentine legend ends 21-year national team career after historic World Cup triumphs

Lionel Messi has announced his retirement from international soccer with Argentina, bringing an end to a remarkable 21-year career with the national team.

The 39-year-old Argentine superstar confirmed the decision Monday in a lengthy message shared on Instagram, saying that the choice was painful but that he understood the time had come to step away from international competition.

“It was a decision that hurt — and still hurts deeply — but I understand that the time has come,” Messi wrote.

Although he is retiring from international soccer, Messi is expected to continue his professional career at club level with Inter Miami in Major League Soccer.

Messi leaves Argentina as a World Cup champion

Messi’s international career reached its defining moment in 2022, when he led Argentina to the FIFA World Cup title in Qatar.

The victory completed a journey that had included years of disappointment with the national team and cemented Messi’s status among the greatest players in soccer history.

He had previously reached the World Cup final in 2014, only for Argentina to lose to Germany. His international career also included painful defeats in major Copa América finals.

Messi eventually overcame those setbacks by helping Argentina win the Copa América in 2021, the World Cup in 2022 and another Copa América title in 2024.

Argentina reached another World Cup final in 2026, but lost to Spain in extra time in New Jersey.

A record-breaking career with Argentina

Messi leaves the Argentina national team as its all-time leading scorer and one of its most decorated players.

He played 207 international matches and scored 125 goals for Argentina, including 21 goals at the World Cup.

His 21 World Cup goals rank among the highest totals in men’s soccer history. Only Cristiano Ronaldo has scored more international goals overall, with 146 for Portugal.

Messi also appeared in a record-tying six World Cups, a remarkable achievement that reflects his extraordinary longevity at the highest level of the sport.

Throughout his career, Messi was repeatedly compared with Argentine icon Diego Maradona and Brazilian legend Pelé. For millions of fans and many former players and coaches, Messi ultimately established himself as the greatest of them all.

Messi revealed when he made his decision

In his farewell message, Messi explained that he actually wrote his retirement letter shortly after Argentina’s most recent World Cup final.

He said he wrote the message on July 21, two days after the final, but delayed publishing it because his father, Jorge Messi, was experiencing serious health problems.

Jorge Messi died on August 8 in Rosario, Argentina.

The personal circumstances surrounding the announcement added another emotional dimension to Messi’s departure from international soccer.

After more than two decades representing Argentina, Messi said he would now experience the national team from a different perspective.

“I’m going to miss hearing you all from the inside so much,” he wrote, adding that he would now be among the supporters cheering for Argentina from the outside.

From a difficult debut to becoming Argentina’s greatest star

Messi’s journey with Argentina began in 2005, shortly after he became the star of the country’s victorious under-20 World Cup campaign.

He made his senior debut at just 18 years old in a match against Hungary in Budapest. His first appearance lasted only a couple of minutes after he was sent off shortly after entering the game.

What followed was one of the longest and most successful international careers in soccer history.

But the journey was not always easy.

After Argentina lost three consecutive major finals, including the 2014 World Cup final and the 2015 and 2016 Copa América finals, Messi briefly announced his retirement from international soccer in 2016.

The decision lasted only a short time.

A massive public campaign, including appeals from Maradona and Argentina’s political leadership, helped convince Messi to return to the national team.

His return ultimately changed the course of Argentine soccer history.

From heartbreak to international dominance

Before Messi’s breakthrough with Argentina, his international career was often defined by criticism that he had failed to reproduce his club success with the national team.

That narrative changed dramatically after 2021.

Messi won his first major senior international trophy when Argentina defeated Brazil in the Copa América final at the Maracanã Stadium.

A year later, he helped Argentina win the World Cup in Qatar, scoring twice in the final against France and converting his penalty during the shootout.

Argentina then added another Copa América title in 2024.

The transformation was complete: the player once criticized for falling short with Argentina had become the central figure in one of the most successful periods in the country’s soccer history.

Messi will continue playing with Inter Miami

Retirement from international soccer does not necessarily mean the end of Messi’s playing career.

He remains under contract with Inter Miami and has continued to perform at an elite level in MLS.

The Argentine recently scored four goals for Inter Miami in a 7-1 victory over CF Montréal, demonstrating that he remains capable of producing extraordinary performances despite being 39 years old.

Messi has also won the MLS Most Valuable Player award twice and remains one of the league’s biggest stars.

He has not announced when he plans to retire from club soccer.

A second farewell to the Argentina national team

This is not the first time Messi has announced his retirement from Argentina.

In 2016, he stepped away after Argentina lost the Copa América final to Chile on penalties, with Messi missing one of Argentina’s attempts in the shootout.

At the time, the disappointment appeared to bring his international career to an end.

Instead, Messi returned and eventually achieved everything he had once been unable to accomplish with Argentina.

His second retirement therefore comes under dramatically different circumstances.

Rather than leaving after another painful defeat, Messi departs as a World Cup champion, multiple-time Copa América winner, Argentina’s record goalscorer and one of the most decorated players in soccer history.

Lionel Messi leaves an extraordinary legacy

Messi’s international career spans more than two decades, six World Cups, 207 appearances and 125 goals.

More importantly, it tells the story of a player who endured years of criticism and disappointment before finally delivering the trophies Argentina had been waiting for.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni captured Messi’s importance during the recent World Cup with a simple assessment: “He is pure history. History. A legend.”

Now, Messi will watch Argentina from the other side of the field.

For Argentine fans, however, his legacy will remain inseparable from the national team — from the teenager who made his debut in 2005 to the captain who finally lifted the World Cup trophy in 2022.

Messi leaves international soccer having completed the journey he once feared would never be possible.