Superstar has made a decision
Contract coup: Lionel Messi’s future is certain
Updated 10/23/2025 – 6:20 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
The questions about Lionel Messi’s whereabouts have been answered: It is now official where the Argentine will play in the coming years – the decision can also be a sign towards the 2028 World Cup.
Lionel Messi has extended his contract with Inter Miami and thus sent the decisive signal towards defending the World Cup title. The Argentine football superstar signed a new contract with co-owner David Beckham’s club until the end of 2028, as the AP news agency reports.
Inter first published a video on social media channels. You can see the 38-year-old Messi signing a contract. However, no exact information about the duration was given.
In the recent past, speculation about an offer from Saudi Arabia had arisen again – he had already turned down one two years ago out of consideration for his family when he left Paris Saint-Germain for the USA.
Even if Messi has not yet made a clear statement about his sixth World Cup participation, it is hardly conceivable that he will apparently continue at Inter for another three years and no longer play for his Albiceleste at the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
He recently did not give a clear message to his fans in what was probably his last competitive international match on Argentine soil. “We’ll see,” he emphasized at the beginning of September: “If I feel good, I enjoy it. If I don’t feel good, I honestly don’t enjoy it,” explained Messi: “I haven’t made a decision about the World Cup yet.”
In 2022 in Qatar, the exceptional footballer achieved the World Cup triumph he longed for in his fifth attempt. Before the tournament in Qatar towards the end of the year, Messi had repeatedly emphasized and insisted that this should be his last World Cup tournament. With a view to the final tournament next year, he later repeatedly emphasized that he didn’t want to commit and would just see how he felt.
A good six months after the World Cup triumph, Messi moved to Inter Miami in the Major League Soccer. He had previously played for Paris Saint-Germain for two years after having to leave his heart club FC Barcelona after more than two decades. The heavily indebted club could no longer afford Messi. Messi has said several times, including when he said goodbye, that he wanted to return there at some point. Whether that will happen now remains to be seen.