Lionel Messi will make his final appearance for Argentina on 6 October, when the world champions face Benin in a sold-out friendly at River Plate’s Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires.
The match will be Messi’s 208th international appearance and is expected to bring his 21-year career with the national team to an end. All 85,018 tickets were sold within two hours, with prices ranging from $59 to $317.
Argentina’s October programme also includes matches against Bolivia in Cordoba on 30 September and Burkina Faso on 3 October. The Benin fixture was already scheduled, but the Argentine Football Association and manager Lionel Scaloni have used it to provide a farewell on home soil for the country’s most-capped player and leading goalscorer.
Messi had appeared to end his international career after Argentina’s 2026 World Cup final defeat by Spain at New York/New Jersey MetLife Stadium. Ferran Torres scored in the 106th minute as Spain won 1:0, with Argentina managing only two shots and recording 0.2 xG.
Two days after the final, Messi wrote a farewell message but delayed its publication because of his father’s poor medical condition. On 31 August, he said: “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.”
He ended the message by writing: “Thank you, God, for making me Argentine.” However, he later agreed to return for one final match.
AFA president Claudio Tapia said: “We made the decision to invite the best player in the world, the symbol of our national team, our captain, Lionel Andres Messi, so that he can have the farewell he truly deserves on October 6 here in Argentina.”
Messi’s international career includes the 2022 World Cup and Copa America victories in 2021 and 2024. He has scored 125 goals and provided 68 assists for Argentina, including 21 goals and 12 assists in 34 World Cup appearances. Only Cristiano Ronaldo has scored more goals at international level.
Scaloni initially selected 35 players for the three friendlies before reducing the group to 28. The final squad includes Emiliano Martinez, Giovani Lo Celso, Juan Musso, Exequiel Palacios, Geronimo Rulli, Rodrigo De Paul, Agustin Giay, Nicolas Paz, Leandro Paredes, Franco Mastantuono, Cristian Romero, Matias Soule, Lisandro Martinez, Giuliano Simeone, Juan Foyth, Nicolas Gonzalez, Facundo Medina, Gianluca Prestianni, Nicolas Tagliafico, Jose Manuel Lopez, Roman Vega, Santiago Castro, Enzo Fernandez, Julian Alvarez, Alexis Mac Allister, Lautaro Martinez, Valentin Barco and Messi.
Lautaro Martinez, Julian Alvarez, Lisandro Martinez and Enzo Fernandez are expected to lead Argentina after Messi, while Nicolas Paz and Franco Mastantuono represent the next generation. German Pezzella, Angel Di Maria and Guido Rodriguez are expected to attend, while Paulo Dybala and Nahuel Molina are not.
Adidas has produced a commemorative shirt featuring gold detailing, the Argentine Sun of May on the front and back, and an “M” beside the Adidas logo. Messi’s name and number 10 are also bordered in gold. He described it as: “One last match. A jersey for a lifetime.”
The farewell will take place at the 85,000-capacity Monumental rather than in Messi’s birthplace, Rosario. Benin manager Gernot Rohr, who led Nigeria in their 2:1 defeat by Argentina at the 2018 World Cup, also hopes Messi will sign a shirt he has kept since that match.
