• Argentina will host Benin in October in Buenos Aires

• AFA president invites Messi to enjoy ‘deserved farewell’

Lionel Messi has been called up by Argentina to make a farewell ⁠appearance in a home friendly in October following his international retirement, the Argentinian football association (AFA) has confirmed.

“We invited ⁠the best player in ⁠the world ​to play, the icon of our selection, our captain Lionel Andrés Messi, to have a deserved farewell on 6 October, here in Argentina,” the AFA president, Claudio Tapia, said on social media.

Our cartoonist imagines how the football great might while away the hours after calling time on his international career

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The Argentinian’s decision to quit international football was met by an outpouring of affection from the country he led to World Cup glory in 2022

Anyone who was present at Lionel Scaloni’s press conference immediately after the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina in New Jersey on 19 July and saw his tears, the sobs which prevented him from speaking while he got up and walked out, could tell this was a man weeping not because of defeat in a single match but because he was fully aware that what that particular group of men had been through for the past eight years had come to an end.

Messi’s announcement that he is retiring from international football, posted on Instagram on Monday complete with photos of three handwritten sheets of some anonymous yet corporate-looking headed paper and a Harry Potter Time Turner pen, to the soundtrack of Brindis sung by Soledad Pastorutti, instantly dominated the news and unleashed a barrage of homages, gratitude and joy from all corners. But it’s not exactly a surprise.

The Argentine’s career with Argentina was singular, and his exit is a reminder that all good things come to an end

IIt was among the defining moments of the 2026 World Cup: Lionel Messi standing arms akimbo, looking up towards Argentina’s fervent supporters after losing the final. Tears streamed down his face after his team’s embarrassing loss to Spain in what we now know was Messi’s final match wearing that famous Argentina kit.

It was not the first time he’d cried at the tournament. There had been tears of joy in Argentina’s opening match, when Messi rolled back the clock to his glory days with a trio of spectacular goals against Algeria. There had been more when his brace against Austria pushed Argentina through to the knockout round as group winners, and even more when his equalizer against Egypt threw la Albiceleste a much-needed lifeline. Later, the world found out that Messi had been struggling all the while with the health struggles of his father, Jorge, a fact that clearly weighed heavily on him as Argentina made a dramatic return to the final in a bid to defend their 2022 title.

• Argentina great’s last game was in World Cup final

• Player’s father Jorge died earlier in August

Lionel Messi has announced his retirement from international football seven weeks after Argentina were beaten by Spain in the World Cup final in the US. The 39-year-old captained Argentina to World Cup glory in 2022 and two Copa América titles after winning his first cap in 2005.

On Monday, Messi posted a picture on Instagram of notes that he wrote on 21 July, two days after the World Cup final, confirming he was ending his Argentina career and said the death of his father, Jorge, in early August made him feel “more convinced than before”. Messi was often visibly emotional during the tournament and revealed in the knockout stages that Jorge was undergoing medical treatment.

• Incident happened when Inter Miami met Philadelphia Union

• Argentinian lashed out at Quinn Sullivan in 2-2 draw

Lionel Messi has been fined for slapping an opponent during a Major League Soccer game. The 39-year-old Inter Miami forward lashed out at Quinn Sullivan of Philadelphia Union during their match on Wednesday, catching the midfielder around the back of the head.

The Argentinian appeared to be angry Sullivan had elbowed him after he had played the ball, with the referee intervening before the situation could escalate. The match at Subaru Park finished 2-2.

We look at the many contenders for the English title this season, one of the big potential moves of the summer and chaos at Fifa

It’s difficult to recall a Premier League season starting amid such widespread uncertainty as this one. Half the division, including Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City, is under new management. The Pep Guardiola era is over and, as Jonathan Wilson put it, the Premier League has no alpha manager possibly for the first time ever.

• Messi’s father, ⁠Jorge, died last week at age of 68

• Argentinian suggests he may not play on much longer

Lionel Messi has hinted that the end of his career may be near after ­admitting to “quite a few doubts” about his football future following the death of his father.

Jorge Messi died last week at the age of 68 in Rosario, Argentina, after a long illness, with his health during this summer’s World Cup appearing to take a toll on Argentina’s 39-year-old captain.

• Messi family report death at medical clinic in Rosario

• Inter Miami are due to play Monterrey on Saturday night

Lionel Messi’s father and agent, Jorge, has died aged 68 at a medical clinic in the ⁠Argentinian city of ⁠Rosario after ​a long illness, the family have announced. Jorge Messi spent his final months ⁠alternating between a medical centre in Rosario and his home, accompanied by his wife, Celia, and his ⁠children Rodrigo, Matías and María Sol.

Lionel Messi ​spent time with his ‌father after the World ‌Cup before rejoining his club, Inter Miami, for whom he ‌returned to action a week ago. Inter Miami are due to play Monterrey on Saturday at home in the 2026 Leagues Cup, but the MLS club have yet to announce whether he will feature.

Harry Kane, Rodri, Lamine Yamal, Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi are the frontrunners for the annual prize

By WhoScored

Seventy-three goals in 64 games for club and country – the second most prolific season by any player in history after Lionel Messi’s 82-goal campaign in 2011-12 – not bad for a man who once sat on the bench alongside Jamie Vardy in the Championship. Harry Kane was not a teenage prodigy like a few of the other players on this list but here he is crashing football’s top table at the age of 33.

Many Black Americans were not cheering Spain’s complicated history. They were rooting against the racism, politics and silence associated with Argentina

There are moments in sports when you realize people aren’t just watching the score any more. They’re watching values. They’re watching who speaks. They’re watching who stays silent. And they’re watching what those silences say.

I found myself thinking about that throughout this World Cup. On paper, Sunday’s final looked simple. Spain v Argentina. Two footballing giants and countries with glorious soccer histories. Two nations whose pasts are also stained by colonization, oppression and chapters of history that shouldn’t be whitewashed simply because someone can score a goal.

Game’s greatest player will not see his legacy sullied by defeat to Spain but his team’s display destroyed the game

Playing on the grandest stage in sport for the last time, Lionel Messi seemed almost certain to provide one last memorable moment in this World Cup final.

Yet as the sun ducked behind the west stand of New York New Jersey Stadium on Sunday, it became clearer and clearer that Argentina had lost the magic they had carried through this tournament. And as Spain gradually wrested control, one was left to confront reality: Messi, and Argentina, had finally run out of time, having long since given in to their worst instincts in a 1-0 defeat.

Die deutschen Fußballer haben bei dieser WM dermaßen viele Rekorde verloren, dass sie dringend Trost beim Dichter Friedrich Rückert suchen sollten.

The World Cup final is a classic clash of the process team against a side riding an emotional urge to fulfil Messi’s destiny

In the 37 minutes between England going ahead against Argentina and falling behind, they had 12% possession. It’s fair to assume that in the World Cup final Spain will provide a rather different challenge. They do not suffer the Mafeking tendency of the English, seeking to re-enact some famous siege every time they take the lead. The finalists have averaged 64% possession so far in the tournament. Spain could hardly be more different to England: their way is not of panic but of process.

There is a clearly defined Spanish style, as there has been since Vicente del Bosque replaced Luis Aragonés as Spain manager in 2008, and arguably before. In that, perhaps, there is hope for England. Spain once were even greater underachievers but Aragonés inspired the revolution against the furia roja orthodoxy. The result has been three Euros and a World Cup in the past two decades, with perhaps another to come on Sunday.

• Coach tells of first encounter when Messi was 16

• ‘I took man-marker off and Messi scored four’

Luis de la Fuente says he will not man-mark Lionel Messi in the World Cup final, even though the Argentina captain has scored eight times and provided four assists and the Spain coach’s own experience suggests it might not be a bad idea.

In the buildup to Sunday’s final in New Jersey, De la Fuente told the story of the first time he encountered Messi, 22 years ago, when the Argentinian was a 16-year-old coming through at Barcelona, he was the youth-team coach at Sevilla and the under-19 cup draw brought them together in the last 16 in May 2004 at the Miniestadi.

The boy in the baby bath has unbelievably become the successor to Messi at Barcelona and now, maybe, on the world stage too

“Maybe Lionel Messi has picked up lots of babies, maybe it’s chance, but for those of us who have faith, who believe in something beyond, ‘chance’ is God’s pseudonym when he doesn’t want to sign his name,” Luis de la Fuente says. “In life, everything happens for a reason. Sometimes it’s true that the circle isn’t closed, but in my view there’s something else, something … I don’t know, mystical, spiritual.”

Contemplate the scene, gaze upon the image of this World Cup, and you may be inclined to agree with Spain’s coach, to reach out and touch faith. How else to comprehend this? You will have seen the picture and will certainly see it again, and still it won’t make sense.

The little maestro has hitherto lived in the shadow of Maradona who has for so long coloured the soul and defined the passion of football in Argentina

It is time to consign Diego Maradona’s Hand of God to a museum piece. For 40 years that moment and Maradona’s unforgettable “goal of the century” coloured the soul and passion of Argentinian football. Today things are very different, and the main reason is Lionel Messi. By asserting himself over the memory of Maradona, Messi is establishing a new Argentina.

An impressive 2–1 semi-final victory over England showcased a revitalised Argentina who go into Sunday’s final against Spain relying on a simple, powerful weapon: excellent football.

It was a statistically weird game for Argentina’s talisman against England, full of outliers. It didn’t matter

Thomas Tuchel will have prepared for every eventuality before England’s match with Argentina. He will have considered how his team could prosper in attack while remaining solid in defence. What to change if they scored first or if the opening goal went against them and, like so many managers before him, he will have put plenty of thought into how best to deal with Lionel Messi.

For the first hour he was largely peripheral, with the data showing how England were limiting his involvement in dangerous areas. Messi’s only possession in the centre of the penalty area was snuffed out by an Elliot Anderson tackle shortly after Anthony Gordon had scored. The proportion of the distance he covered that was defined by Fifa as sprinting speed (at least 20km/h) was 4.3%, lower than against Switzerland (4.6%) or Egypt (5.4%) in the previous two rounds.

While England shrank away in Atlanta, Argentina’s No 10 was not finished making his mark on the biggest stage

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. Well, not to this lot anyway. On a day of ceaseless rolling noise under Atlanta’s vast refrigerated dome, England reached the end of the road, the end of their own capacities at this World Cup, the end of the gears within this team. Mainly they ran into Lionel Messi, who was not ready to be done just yet. Not like this anyway.

With 55 minutes gone England were actually winning this game, 1-0 up thanks to Anthony Gordon’s goal, the only real moment of clarity they produced all match. At which point they simply disappeared as an animate entity from the stage.

• Images of the pair from 2007 charity calendar resurface
• Photographer had no idea Lamine Yamal was in photo

When Joan Monfort took photos of Lionel Messi with a baby for a charity calendar almost 17 years ago, he knew the long-haired young man would make it big in football. He could not have imagined the little boy would as well.

The baby in the photos – which have gone viral – was none other than Lamine Yamal, the Spanish youngster, who at 16 is showing such promise that he is already being compared to the greats. The youngest to have played for Spain, he became the youngest player ever in the European Championship at the current tournament in Germany.