Messi's Next World Cup: The Question on Everyone’s Mind
Everyone keeps asking: will Lionel Messi take on the 2026 FIFA World Cup, or is his incredible run with Argentina headed for its final whistle? After leading his country to a historic win in Qatar in 2022 and lifting the Copa América once again in 2024, Messi has entered that phase where every season is makes-you-think territory. He’s 37 now. By the time the World Cup kicks off in June 2026 across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, he’ll be 39. That’s a big leap for anyone, even the greatest of his generation.
Messi’s situation is loaded with ‘ifs’ and ‘maybes.’ His contract with Inter Miami FC stretches until the end of 2025, just a few months before the World Cup curtain rises. There’s curiosity but no confirmation—will he renew, or start winding down? After a rough preseason in 2024, Messi made it clear he’s thinking about his limits. He said, “This year is going to be important for me—being able to play consistently, feeling good.” No big promises, just honesty about how grueling elite football is when your legs no longer bounce back the way they used to.
Close Friends, Unanswered Questions
Take it from Luis Suárez, Messi’s long-time partner in crime, now lining up with him in Miami. When asked, Suárez admitted Messi still feels that itch for another World Cup, but neither of them has drawn a line in the sand. “Time will tell,” Suárez said—about as close as you can get to an official statement these days. And really, who can blame them? Athletes of Messi’s calibre know every choice reverberates. It’s less about simply wanting to play; it’s whether his body and form will hold up at the highest level, against the world’s best, two years from now.
Argentina has already punched its ticket for 2026, so the team won’t be sweating the qualifiers with or without Messi. But fans, pundits, and the whole football world are reading the tea leaves, dissecting every comment. Messi’s legacy as the World Cup-winning captain and multiple Ballon d’Or champion is cemented, but the allure of an unprecedented sixth World Cup calls to him. No player in history has started that many World Cups. Will Messi rewrite that record book one more time, or will he listen to his body and call it a career before the lights go up on North America’s biggest soccer stage?
It’s a tension that’s bound to linger through the current season—every time he steps onto the pitch for Inter Miami, eyes will be on him. How sharp does he look? Is he easing up, or still dancing past defenders? Even Messi doesn’t have the answer just yet. For now, fans will have to ride out the suspense, hoping the great number 10’s storied career still holds one more World Cup chapter.