Argentina Urged to Retire No. 10 From National Team Following Lionel Messi's Departure

Calls Grow in Argentina to Retire Messi’s No. 10

The farewell of Lionel Messi from the Argentina national team is sparking a major debate among Albiceleste fans. Now, fans on social media are calling for the iconic No. 10 that the captain wore for years to be permanently retired as a tribute to one of the most important figures in Argentina’s history.

After a 21-year international career, Messi turned the No. 10 jersey into one of the most recognizable symbols of Argentine soccer. Argentina has already tried to retire the No. 10 in honor of Diego Maradona, so the possibility of repeating that initiative is once again on the table following Messi’s departure.

Fans Want No One to Wear the No. 10 Again

The idea behind the request is that no player should wear the No. 10 for the Argentina national team again and that the jersey should remain permanently associated with Lionel Messi. Before Leo, the No. 10 was closely linked to players such as Diego Maradona, while in recent years it became almost synonymous with the Argentina captain.

In 2024, Claudio Tapia, president of the AFA, said in an interview with Sport that “the national team’s No. 10 will be retired when Leo ends his international career.” That statement made the Argentine Football Association’s intention to honor the player clear once his time with the national team came to an end.

Diego Maradona’s Precedent Returns to the Spotlight

The proposal also brings back one of the most unusual episodes in the recent history of the Argentina national team. In September 2001, the AFA Executive Committee, then led by Julio Grondona, unanimously approved the retirement of the No. 10 in honor of Diego Maradona.

The decision was enthusiastically welcomed by Maradona himself and became a major talking point in the Argentine sports media.

However, the No. 10 continued to play a role with the national team. Ariel Ortega was one of the players who wore the famous jersey during that period and became an important figure in the era between Maradona and Messi.

That attempt to retire the number in 2002 was accompanied by significant internal disputes involving FIFA, while the AFA sought an exception that would allow Argentina to keep the jersey outside the usual numbering system.

Messi’s No. 10 Becomes the Centerpiece of the Tribute

Following Lionel Messi’s departure from the Argentina national team, the future of his jersey has become one of the first symbolic questions surrounding the end of his international career. For some fans, there is no player capable of filling that space, which is why they believe the best way to honor the captain would be to permanently retire the number.

For now, the request primarily represents a demand from supporters and an intention that had already been publicly expressed by AFA leadership. The debate over the future of the No. 10 is now firmly established following Messi’s farewell, as Argentina prepares to begin a new era without its historic captain.

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