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Lionel Messi has announced his retirement from international football, ending a 20-year career with Argentina’s national team.
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The Argentine star described the decision as deeply painful but said he believes “this is the right moment” to step away.
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Messi said he had given everything to Argentina and pointed to an emerging generation of young players ready to take their opportunity.
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He revealed that he wrote his farewell two days after his final but said subsequent events involving his father strengthened his decision.
August 31, (THEWILL) — Lionel Messi has announced his retirement from international football, bringing an end to a two-decade career with Argentina’s national team.
In an emotional statement, Messi said he reached the decision after extensive reflection following his most recent final, describing his departure from the national side as painful but necessary.
“After all this time since the final, and after thinking about it a lot, I want to tell everyone that I’m retiring from the national team,” Messi said.
“It was a decision that hurt and still hurts deep inside, but I understand that this is the right moment.”
The Argentine said he believed he had given everything possible to the national team throughout his career, including during the difficult years before the side’s more recent successes.
Messi said his commitment to Argentina had remained unchanged throughout his time with the team and that he had always sought to make supporters proud.
“I love, I loved, and I will always love being part of the national team,” he said. “I gave everything I had, and I don’t have anything more to give.”
He also pointed to the emergence of a new generation of Argentine players as another factor supporting his decision, saying there were “great young players coming through who deserve to be here”.
Messi thanked supporters for their backing over the past 20 years and said he would continue following Argentina from outside the squad.
“Now I’ll be one of you, always supporting from the outside, in the good times and even more in the bad ones,” he said.
The footballer also expressed gratitude to his family, coaches, teammates and football officials who had accompanied him during his international career, describing the journey as “beautiful but difficult”.
Messi said he was leaving the national team with “peace and pride”, particularly because of the memorable moments he and his teammates had shared with Argentine supporters.
In a striking conclusion to the statement, Messi revealed that he had initially written his farewell on 21 July, two days after the final, but had held it back.
He said subsequent events involving his father had reinforced his decision to retire.
“Today, after what happened with my dad, I’m even more convinced of this decision than before,” Messi said.
Segun Adeyemi serves as the Associate Editor of THEWILL Newspaper, leveraging more than ten years of editorial expertise and a proven track record in mainstream journalism.
