Messi bids farewell to international football

• Argentine superstar Lionel Messi announced his retirement from international football career.

• Messi, 39, played in six World Cups, won the tournament in Qatar 2022 and led Argentina to the final in 2026 losing to Spain.

• The record eight-times Ballon d’Or winner is his country’s record appearance-maker and scorer with 125 goals in 207 games.

• Messi has won the Ballon d’Or a record eight times.

• He was born in Rosario, Argentina on June 24, 1987.

• He joined Barcelona as a 13-year-old in 2000.

• He made his debut for the Argentina national team in 2005 in a friendly match against Hungary.

• Messi played 207 times for Argentina and became the country’s leading scorer with 125 goals.

• After years of disappointment with Argentina, including defeat in the 2014 World Cup final and successive Copa America finals, Messi won his first major international trophy at the 2021 Copa America before leading his country to glory at the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

• The former Barcelona and Paris St Germain forward, who now plays for Inter Miami, added another Copa America title in 2024 and arrived at his sixth World Cup hoping to complete an extraordinary final chapter.

• Defeat in the World Cup final by Spain denied Messi a fairytale farewell.

• Messi’s contract with Major League Soccer club Inter Miami runs until the end of the 2028 season.