Lionel Messi, who led Argentina to victory at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar last year, announced that he would not participate in the 2026 World Cup.메이저사이트
Messi, who is visiting China, said in an interview with Chinese Titan Sports on the 13th, “The last World Cup was my last,” and said, “I will have to see the situation in the future, but I will not go to the next World Cup for now.”
Born in June 1987, Messi will be 39 years old in 2026, when the next World Cup will be held. The 2026 World Cup will be co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Messi, who started playing for the Argentine national team in 2005 and scored 102 goals in 174 matches in his A-match career, was awarded the Golden Ball in the 2014 and 2022 World Cups.
Since 1982, when the World Cup Golden Ball was enacted, Messi is the only player to have won this award twice.
With Messi’s performance at the forefront, Argentina won the World Cup title for the first time in 36 years since the 1986 Mexico tournament, in which the late Diego Maradona played.
Messi, whose contract with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) expires at the end of this month, announced last week that he would transfer to Inter Miami of the American professional soccer Major League Soccer (MLS).
The Argentina national soccer team will play a friendly match against Australia in Beijing, China on the 15th and will face the Indonesian national team in Jakarta, Indonesia on the 19th.