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Lionel Messi Announces Retirement From International Football

The captain of Team Argentina leaves the squad after nearly two decades.

Lionel Messi Announces Retirement From International Football
Billy Eff
By Billy EffAug 31, 2026
Billy Eff

Billy Eff is the Content Director for Rolling Stone Canada. An award-winning journalist and columnist, he has previously contributed to outlets including VICE and Urbania. A passionate advocate for underground music and a musician himself, he has conducted several hundred interviews with artists and industry professionals across a wide range of styles and genres over the past 15 years. He is based in Montréal, Québec.

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Argentina will have to say goodbye to a legend, as Lionel Messi has announced his retirement from international football, closing the book on one of the most extraordinary careers in the history of the sport. After more than two decades wearing Argentina’s colours, Messi will no longer represent his country on the international stage.

The decision marks the end of a career that took Messi from a teenage prodigy to Argentina’s most important player and, ultimately, its captain and World Cup-winning icon. He leaves the national team as its all-time leading scorer and appearance-maker, having scored 125 goals in 207 appearances.

His international career also came with a long period of frustrationm, during which Messi endured three major tournament final defeats with Argentina before finally winning the 2021 Copa América. That breakthrough was followed by the 2022 Finalissima victory over Italy and, most importantly, the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, where Messi finally lifted the trophy that had eluded him.

He added another Copa América title in 2024, further cementing his place in Argentine football history.

Messi’s announcement comes shortly after the 2026 World Cup, where Argentina reached the final before falling to Spain. He had already suggested that the tournament could be his last, but today’s announcement makes his departure official.

This is not the end of his football career, however. Messi's contract with Inter Miami ends in 2028, so there's still time to witness his greatness. Messi and his team were in Montréal over the weekend, where he scored four times and added an assist in Inter Miami’s 7-1 demolition of CF Montréal at Stade Saputo.

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