After Argentina: How Messi Is Building a Football Empire While Still Playing

Lionel Messi is playing his last match for Argentina. His 208th cap, a farewell friendly against Benin in Buenos Aires, marks the end of one of football's greatest international careers. But while the curtain falls on Argentina, the next chapter is already well underway.

For bettors and football fans alike, understanding where Messi goes from here matters more than most people realise. This isn't just a retirement story. It's the beginning of a whole new kind of football power.

The Argentina Chapter Ends on His Terms

Messi leaves Argentina as its most-capped player and all-time top scorer. He announced his retirement six weeks after Argentina's World Cup final defeat to Spain, saying he had nothing more to give. Coach Lionel Scaloni has left the door open, but those close to Messi say the chapter is closed.

What's striking is how clean the break feels. He didn't drag it out. He didn't wait for one final tournament to go wrong. He picked his moment and walked away while still capable of performing at the highest level. That kind of self-awareness is rare.

For Argentina fans, the emotional weight of that final whistle will be enormous. For the rest of us, the more interesting story is what Messi does next.

Club Football Continues, and So Does the Ambition

His contract with Inter Miami runs to the end of the 2028 season, reviewed annually. Nobody close to him expects him to leave early. If he feels physically and mentally ready to keep going, he'll keep going. It's that simple.

When the playing days do finally end, Messi won't be sitting on a beach. He's already building the infrastructure for a serious ownership career in European football.

In April he purchased UE Cornella, a fifth-tier club on the edge of Barcelona. Then in October, CD Eldense, a second-division Spanish club, announced Messi as its new owner, subject to approval from the Spanish sports council. Eldense is the flagship of his football operation. The immediate target is survival in the second division, with former Villarreal boss Javi Calleja brought in to steady the ship. The longer-term target is La Liga.

In Uruguay, he and Luis Suarez co-founded Deportivo LSM in May 2025. In its first season, the club won promotion to the country's third tier. Between the two of them, they've built something real in a very short space of time.

Messi follows every Eldense match closely, even now while still playing in Miami. His first Instagram post as owner after a four-one win over Real Oviedo simply read 'Aupa Deportivo'. Understated, but completely on brand.

The Business Portfolio That Makes Him a Billionaire

Messi's net worth sits at around 1.1 billion dollars according to recent estimates, with annual earnings of roughly 140 million dollars split between football and commercial activity. The lifetime Adidas deal he signed in 2017 underpins a lot of that, but the portfolio goes much further.

MiM Hotels, six boutique properties across Ibiza, Andorra and beyond, now operate under a formal rental agreement with Melia. He has a multi-year partnership with Stanley on a mate collection, the brand's first such deal with any athlete. His family firm is investing in a residential development in Rosario alongside Angel Di Maria's property agency. And a restaurant chain, El Club de la Milanesa, is planning to open five branches in Catalonia, with the first in Castelldefels where his family home sits close to the sea.

His business operation grew out of the work his late father Jorge started from the beginning. When Jorge fell ill, the structure was already well established, and Messi trusts the people who run it. He's not a passive figurehead. He told the America Business Forum in Miami last November that business genuinely interests him and that he's only just starting to learn.

That's not false modesty from a man with a billion-dollar portfolio. It's the mindset that got him to the top of football in the first place.

Where the Real Passion Lives

If you want to understand Messi the future football figure, watch the Messi Cup. It's a youth tournament for Under-16 academies that began in 2025 with eight teams and doubled to sixteen in its second edition, held at Inter Miami's Florida facilities. Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona, Arsenal, Inter Milan and others all send squads.

Everyone expected him to show up for the final. He attended every single match, every single day. That tells you everything about where his heart sits when it comes to the next generation.

Newell's Old Boys, the Rosario club where he grew up, remains emotionally close to him. They're one of the sixteen academies at this year's Messi Cup. A formal return as owner hasn't been discussed, but it's never fully off the table either.

What is clear is that Messi's football future is built around Europe and Miami. The Argentina chapter is done, but the story is nowhere near finished. In many ways, the most ambitious version of Lionel Messi hasn't even started yet.