Lionel Messi will play his final match for Argentina's national football team on October 6 against Benin in Buenos Aires, a friendly in which the 39-year-old forward joins the squad coach Lionel Scaloni announced on Tuesday, a list that also includes Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni.
Messi, who now plays for Inter Miami, will be honored during the match, the third fixture for Argentina since the team finished as runners-up at the 2026 World Cup. Before facing Benin, Argentina will play Bolivia on September 30 and Burkina Faso on October 3, Argentine Football Association president Claudio Tapia said.
Tapia said that he and Scaloni had decided to invite the best player in the world, their captain, for the farewell he truly deserved, on October 6, in Argentina. He said the match would be held at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires and explained that this was why Messi, a former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain player, was included among the 28 players called up.
Prestianni returns after World Cup ban
Gianluca Prestianni, the 20-year-old Benfica forward, returns to the squad after missing last summer's World Cup, where a UEFA suspension had barred him from playing in Argentina's first two matches of the tournament.
Argentina's match against Bolivia, also to be played in the capital, at River Plate's stadium, will be held before a crowd reduced to half the stadium's capacity. The restriction is a punishment imposed after Argentina's players unfurled a banner reading "The Malvinas are Argentine" following their World Cup semi-final against England. The match against Burkina Faso will be played in Córdoba.
The three friendlies will also be used to enforce individual suspensions handed down after Argentina's defeat to Spain in the World Cup final. Leandro Paredes must serve a 10-match ban, Nahuel Molina a seven-match ban and Thiago Almada a one-match ban.
Messi's Argentina retirement
Messi announced his retirement from the Argentina national team on August 31, one month and 12 days after Argentina's World Cup final defeat to Spain. In a statement at the time, he said that after thinking it over in the time that had passed since the final, he wanted to let everyone know he was retiring from the national team.
Messi made his debut for the Albiceleste on August 17, 2005, at the age of 18. He is Argentina's record holder for appearances (207), goals (125) and assists (66). He won the World Cup with Argentina in 2022, the Copa América in 2021 and 2024, and the Finalissima in 2022, and has won the Ballon d'Or eight times.
Other Messi news
Messi is reported to have reached an initial agreement to buy Eldense, a Spanish football club.
Matches in Argentina's next round of domestic league fixtures are set to be paused at the 10th minute to honor Messi.
Messi's wife, Antonela Roccuzzo, reacted to his international farewell, saying she had watched him suffer, fall and get back up.
