Messi to receive farewell send-off against Benin after announcing international retirement

Lionel Messi will play one last time for Argentina in a specially arranged farewell match against Benin on 6 October at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires, Argentine Football Association president Claudio Tapia confirmed on Tuesday.

Messi, 39, announced his retirement from international football two months after Argentina’s World Cup final defeat to Spain, bringing the curtain down on a career in which he led his country to Copa America and World Cup glory. The farewell fixture comes after Argentina had played matches against Bolivia and Burkina Faso during the same international break.

“We invited the best player in the world to play, our captain Lionel Andres Messi, to have a deserved farewell on October 6, here in Argentina,” Tapia said on social media.

The occasion will give Argentine supporters the chance to bid a formal goodbye to their most decorated international player on home soil — a send-off the AFA was clearly determined to deliver despite Messi’s retirement having already been announced. The Estadio Monumental, Argentina’s largest stadium and the venue that has hosted some of the nation’s most iconic footballing moments, provides a fitting backdrop for the occasion.

Messi’s international record stands as one of the most decorated in the history of the game. He lifted the Copa America in 2021 and ended Argentina’s 36-year wait for a World Cup title with the 2022 triumph in Qatar, adding the one major honour that had previously eluded him at international level.