On Tuesday, Lionel Messi will enjoy one final appearance for the Argentina national team, and then his international career will be over.
After 208 memorable, iconic, and legendary caps for the Albiceleste, his time in international football will come to an end.
Messi is used to saying goodbye — not that that makes it any easier. He has already retired once on the international level, more out of frustration than anything else, back in 2016 after Argentina lost the Copa America final to Chile in a penalty shootout.
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This time, the vibes are completely different. Then, at 29 years old, Messi felt as if he would never get over the hump and win a major international trophy. This time, a decade later, Messi retires from national team duty for good as one of the most decorated players in history.
The 39-year-old still has club football to cling to as he battles when to hang up his boots entirely, but that day may not be as far away as fans might hope it is.
Messi has always been one of the most driven players in the game. He has chased title after title at a ferocious pace, first collecting club awards and then finally accumulating them for his country after he passed the age of 30. The international game made Messi work for it, but the trophies were more than worth the wait.
Trouble is, there’s nothing left to win. Messi has done everything he possibly could in the game. Even at Inter Miami, where he currently resides, he has already won three major domestic trophies — the MLS Cup, the Supporters’ Shield, and the Leagues Cup. The two he’s still missing, the U.S. Open Cup and the CONCACAF Champions Cup, have either lost importance domestically (the former) or feel out of reach for his club’s current level (the latter).
At the end of the 2026 calendar year, Messi has a huge decision to make. He either hangs up his boots for good, or decides to soldier on with just club football to look forward to. Unfortunately, there’s not much to savor anymore at the club level.
If Messi continued on past the end of the 2026 MLS postseason, which concludes on Friday December 18 with the MLS Cup final, he would be committing to — at the very least — the 2027 MLS Sprint Season, a shortened campaign for just the first half of the 2027 calendar year before the league officially transitions to a European league calendar starting in August. Sure, that would be a nice way to wrap things up, but also, what’s the point? Does anyone really care about winning a title in a shortened, kind of fake season?
And beyond that, would Messi really then commit to another full season of club football after that? By the time the first MLS season with the new calendar concluded in June of 2028, he would either be approaching his 41st birthday or just past it.
Messi’s entire club career has always felt like it had two purposes — to win trophies and prepare for international competition. With the importance of the trophies left to win seeming to wane and international football now gone, where’s the motivation?
The final push over the edge could be the recent death of his father, Jorge Messi. In the aftermath of his father’s passing, Leo released a devastating statement that called into question his motivation to continue playing. “All I ever did was play football, and now I have a fair few doubts as to whether I’ll carry on doing it for much longer,” Messi said in a statement to his social media.
Without his father — the man who made his whole world turn — would Leo really want to push into his 40’s? Especially considering Messi is now the majority stakeholder in two Spanish football clubs, including second-tier Eldense where he is reportedly “expected to take an active role,” at this point, club football may just get in the way of his life pursuits.
Between club ownership, the death of his father, the lack of club motivation, and taking a greater role in his family’s everyday life, there has never been a more opportune time for Lionel Messi to hang up his boots — not just on the international level, but on the whole.
It’s feeling more and more like Inter Miami’s final regular season game, at home against Charlotte FC on November 7, could be his last guaranteed fixture. With the Herons almost assured of a spot in the playoffs, this year’s MLS postseason could be his final run as a professional football player.
It just feels like the right time.
