Lionel Messi has admitted he is seriously questioning whether he can continue playing football for much longer after the death of his father, Jorge, sharing an emotional tribute on social media on Wednesday.
Key takeaways
- Jorge Messi, Lionel’s father and long-time agent, died last week at the age of 68.
- Messi’s contract with Inter Miami remains in place through the conclusion of the 2028 MLS season.
- The Argentina captain scored eight goals at the 2026 World Cup but lost the final 1-0 to Spain in New Jersey.
- Jorge missed the tournament after his health deteriorated shortly before it began.
- Messi’s father was laid to rest at a private ceremony near Rosario attended by family members and several Argentina players.
- Cristiano Ronaldo sent a message of support to his long-time rival after the tribute was published.
Messi reflects on his father’s final months
“I have no idea how to live without you or how to move forward,” Messi wrote. “Football is all I have ever done, and now I am seriously unsure whether I will keep doing it for much longer.” The Argentina international is 39.
Jorge Messi, who also managed his son’s career, died the previous week aged 68. Although Messi is contracted to Major League Soccer side Inter Miami until the end of the 2028 campaign, he used his message to consider both his future and the final months of his father’s life.
The period had coincided with the 2026 World Cup, and Jorge’s absence in June had already been noticed. Messi said his father had repeatedly urged him to appear at one more World Cup, but his condition worsened only days before the competition opened. It was the first tournament at which Jorge had not been present.
Messi returned to the United States on Tuesday evening after attending his father’s funeral on Sunday. Recalling the tournament, he said he had continued telling Jorge that Argentina would reach the final and that he would then be able to travel to watch it.
After each game, however, Messi found himself waiting in vain for the message he had come to expect from his father. That silence made him understand how serious Jorge’s condition had become.
Argentina did reach the title match, but Jorge could not attend. Messi wanted to win so he could dedicate the trophy to his father and show him another World Cup triumph. Instead, he said, his body eventually failed him.
“I tried to go beyond what my body could handle, but I was unable to do it,” Messi wrote of Argentina’s 1-0 defeat by Spain in the New Jersey final. “I never felt completely right.”
Immediately after the loss, Messi travelled to Rosario, around 340 kilometres north of Buenos Aires, to spend several days with his family. There, he realised that Jorge had not been able to take in the tournament.
Messi said his father initially believed Argentina had lost the final in a penalty shoot-out. Jorge was unable to discuss what had happened or enjoy the matches, leaving the two unable to properly share the experience.
Argentina did not become champions, Messi acknowledged, but he said the family had taken enormous pleasure from every game. He added that his father had once again been right to insist that he should take part and play.
A defining influence on Messi’s career
Messi appeared at his sixth World Cup and scored eight times as Argentina progressed to the final. They could not repeat their achievement from 2022, when Messi led the country to its third world crown and its first since 1986.
During the group stage, Messi broke down in tears after scoring against Algeria and said he was dealing with “a situation outside of sports”, an indication of the personal difficulties surrounding his father’s illness.
On Sunday, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner said goodbye to Jorge at a private service in Perez, a town next to Rosario. Only close relatives and a small number of Argentina teammates attended. Reports in local media said Jorge had been battling cancer.
Messi described his father as a central figure in both his private life and his football journey, calling him a parent, companion and representative who always fulfilled the role required of him and never made a wrong decision.
Jorge had been his son’s first coach. In 2000, he accompanied 13-year-old Lionel to Catalonia after Barcelona invited the emerging talent to continue treatment for a growth hormone deficiency while joining the club’s youth setup.
To make that move possible, Jorge gave up his employment in Argentina and left behind his wife and three other children to establish a new home in Spain with Lionel.
He later became the agent responsible for negotiating his son’s contracts, including the deals that took Messi from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain and then to Inter Miami.
Messi also remembered the commitment his father had shown from his earliest days in the game. Jorge would take him to every training session after finishing work, never missed a match and endured the tension of watching him play while still finding joy in it. Messi added that his father had never been someone to shower him with praise.
“Rest peacefully and continue to protect us from above, as you always protected us here,” Messi wrote. “Thank you for everything.”
On Wednesday, Cristiano Ronaldo responded to the tribute with a message of sympathy. The 41-year-old Portugal forward, one of Messi’s greatest rivals, sent a virtual embrace to Messi and his family and wished them strength during the difficult period.
