Participation in the 2026 World Cup difficult
After 853 games at club level in Europe for FC Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, there are unlikely to be any more for Lionel Messi. The 36-year-old does not believe in returning, instead he sees his future at Inter Miami FC in the United States. According to him, it seems difficult whether he will continue to play for the Argentine national team until the 2026 World Cup.
“Now that I’ve taken a step forward by coming to the United States, I don’t think I’ll ever go back to Europe to play. Of course I will miss playing in the Champions League or LaLiga, games with a special flair, for the rest of my life. But I enjoyed it as much as I could and I’m not frustrated because of it,” Messi said in an interview with “France Football“. After saying goodbye to FC Barcelona in 2021, he originally planned to return to the club one day. But this was “not possible”.
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In the summer, the 178-time international signed with Inter Miami until the end of 2025, although he had “a lot” of offers – according to Messi, not only from Barça but also from other European clubs or from Saudi Arabia. Messi today describes the choice of Miami as “a decision that we were happy to make”: “We enjoy everyday life much more than we used to with my family. We can do a lot more things together, I can share moments with my wife and children that I previously missed.”
Messi has appeared 14 times for Inter Miami so far, scoring eleven goals and providing five more. Because the MLS club missed the play-offs, the season has already ended. Preparation for the coming season only begins in the new year.
Messi on taking part in the 2026 World Cup: “It’s not about just being there”
Messi announced that he would move back to Barcelona after retiring: “It is our home, where we have our habits and our friends. My wife, my children and me. But right now I have no idea what I’m going to do. I haven’t thought about it yet and I don’t want to. I want to enjoy my last years as a footballer and do what I always enjoyed as a child.”
He doesn’t know exactly when it will be over for him: “I want to keep going until I feel like I can’t do it anymore, that my physical condition no longer allows me to play the way I like to want. The time will tell.”
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Looking ahead to the national team’s next major tournaments – the Copa América next year and the 2026 World Cup – Messi said: “Of course you always want to play games like this, and especially when you have become world champion. But there is still a lot of time until then. Even though it’s happening quickly, there are still a few years until the World Cup and I don’t want to look that far ahead. It’s not about just being there to be there, it’s about feeling comfortable and being able to offer something to the group.”
It seems difficult for him to fulfill these points at an older age. He will be 39 years old during the World Cup. Before the triumph in Qatar, which was Argentina’s third World Cup success after 1978 and 1986, Messi had emphasized several times that this would be his last World Cup.
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