Source: @Goal.com
Lionel Messi’s swan song with Argentina has a date, an opponent and a stadium. On 6 October, he will wear the national shirt for the final time when Argentina face Benin at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires. The AFA has confirmed the match as Messi’s farewell appearance after his decision to retire from international football.
Messi announced his retirement on 31 August, following Argentina’s 1-0 defeat to Spain in the 2026 World Cup final. He had already played his sixth World Cup and ended the tournament as Argentina’s captain. His final competitive appearance for the country came in that final in New Jersey.
The 6 October fixture gives him one final match in front of Argentine supporters.
Messi’s final Argentina appearance
The farewell match is part of three friendlies Argentina will play during the September and October international window. Argentina face Bolivia in Córdoba on September 30, followed by Burkina Faso at the Monumental on October 3. Messi’s farewell against Benin follows three days later at the same stadium.
The AFA has confirmed Messi, Rodrigo De Paul and Giovani Lo Celso for the Benin fixture. AFA president Claudio Tapia announced that Messi had been invited back for a final appearance with the national team in Argentina.
By the time Messi walks onto the Monumental pitch, his Argentina record will stand at 207 appearances and 125 goals, unless he adds to those figures during the farewell itself. He is already his country’s record appearance holder and leading scorer.
His international career began in 2005, when he made his senior debut against Hungary. Twenty-one years later, the final chapter comes at the stadium where Argentina regularly plays its home matches.
The numbers only tell part of the story. Messi’s Argentina career passed through several distinct periods. Early success at youth level was followed by senior international defeats, including the 2014 World Cup final and Copa América final losses in 2015 and 2016.
The breakthrough came at the 2021 Copa América, when Argentina beat Brazil at the Maracanã. Messi then won the Finalissima against Italy in 2022 before claiming the World Cup in Qatar later that year. Argentina added another Copa América title in 2024 and reached the 2026 World Cup final.
That 2026 final against Spain became Messi’s final competitive match for Argentina. Spain won 1-0 after extra time, ending Argentina’s attempt to retain the World Cup. Messi subsequently announced that he was ending his international career, saying he had given everything to the national team.
The AFA has also invited members of Argentina’s 2022 World Cup-winning squad and their families to attend the occasion. Messi will share the occasion with players from the team that delivered the trophy that had eluded him for much of his career.
