Lionel Messi retires: What records and titles does Argentina legend hold?

What the report says

Lionel Messi has ended his Argentina career after two decades, according to Al Jazeera, closing a run that made him one of international football’s most decorated and statistically dominant players. The article says the 39-year-old forward announced his retirement from national duty on Monday, more than 20 years after his debut for Argentina in a friendly against Hungary in August 2005.

Al Jazeera’s roundup highlights Messi’s major team successes with Argentina, including the 2022 World Cup title in Qatar, which ended the country’s long wait for a men’s world crown since 1986. It also notes that he won the Olympic gold medal in Beijing in 2008 and lifted the Copa America twice, in 2021 and 2024. The piece places him among the few players to appear in three World Cup finals and says he started in finals in 2014, 2022 and 2026.

The report also emphasizes the records Messi set on the international stage: most World Cup appearances, most Copa America appearances, most Argentina caps, most assists for Argentina and most World Cup assists. It says he scored 125 international goals, including 21 across six World Cups, and held the record for the most goals by a South American in men’s international football. His numbers are presented as evidence of an unusually long and productive career that shaped Argentina’s modern football history.