Sports News
Messi retires from Argentina at 39, weeks after the World Cup final defeat
Lionel Messi announced on Monday that he is retiring from international football, weeks after Argentina lost the World Cup final to Spain. Al Jazeera, citing AFP and Reuters, said the 39-year-old leaves as his country's record appearance-maker and scorer, with 125 goals in 207 games, and with the 2022 World Cup and the Copa America titles of 2021 and 2024. He made his debut in 2005 and still plays for Inter Miami, where his contract runs to the end of the 2028 season.
The Guardian reported that his Instagram post showed notes he wrote on 21 July, two days after the final, and that the death of his father, Jorge, in early August left him “more convinced than before”. It recalled that he first quit the national team in 2016, after losing a fourth major final, before winning the Copa America in 2021.
“I've given everything I had; I have nothing left to give.” — Lionel Messi on Instagram, via Al Jazeera
The Buenos Aires Herald collected the tributes: the national team's account, nearly all Argentine top-flight clubs, teammates such as Ángel Di María and Rodrigo de Paul, and President Javier Milei, who wrote “Thank you, impossible man.” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said Messi had “redefined the beautiful game”.
How each outlet framed it
- Al Jazeera — the numbers and the letter itself.
- The Guardian — why he decided, and his first retirement in 2016.
- Buenos Aires Herald — the reaction, from teammates to the president.
Where the wording differs: the letter was in Spanish. Al Jazeera's translation has him say he has “nothing left to give”; The Guardian's reads “I have emptied myself: now I have nothing more to give”.
What happened next: Argentina later set a farewell for him in a friendly against Benin on 6 October, Al Jazeera reported.