Lionel Messi posts emotional tribute to his late father, Jorge

Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald on Aug 12, 2026

Published in Soccer

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MIAMI — Lionel Messi commented publicly for the first time about the recent death of his father, Jorge Messi, in a social media post Wednesday.

He thanked his father, who also served as his business manager, for everything he had done for him. Messi also described how heavily his father’s declining health weighed on him during this summer’s World Cup and said he is unsure how much longer he can continue playing without his father by his side.

Jorge Messi died early Saturday morning at a hospital in Rosario, Argentina, after a long, unspecified illness. He was 68.

The Argentine icon and Inter Miami captain went to Rosario over the weekend with his wife and three sons for his father’s funeral and was expected to return to South Florida on Wednesday, according to media reports from Argentina. There is no timetable for his return to the team, according to coach Guillermo Hoyos.

Here is the full text of Messi’s letter to his father:

“Dad, I still can’t believe you’re gone. I can’t accept it, or rather, I don’t want to. It’s so hard for me to imagine that I’m never going to see you again, that we’re never going to talk again. I know you were suffering and that this is for the best, but you left too soon. We still had so much left to enjoy together.

“You kept asking me to play in one last World Cup, and just days before it started was when you took a turn for the worse. It was the first time you weren’t going to be at a tournament, but Mom kept telling me that you were going to get better, that you’d be well enough to travel. I told you we were going to make it to the final, so you’d have time to travel.

“Every time a match ended, I waited for and missed your message. That’s when I realized just how serious the situation really was. Even so, I couldn’t stop thinking about going as far as possible, to give you more time so you could come and watch a match. We made it to the final, but you couldn’t be there. I wanted to win it so I could bring the trophy back to you and show you a new one. I couldn’t. My legs just couldn’t give me any more. This time I tried to push beyond what my body could handle, but I couldn’t. I never felt right.

“When I got back, you thought we had lost the final on penalties. We never got to talk about everything that had happened. You weren’t able to enjoy any of it. We didn’t win the championship, but you have no idea how much we enjoyed every match. Once again, you were right: I had to be there and play in it.

“I’m telling you this because it was the only thing we never got to talk about, because you already know everything else. We talked every day and saw each other whenever my commitments allowed.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do without you. I don’t know how to keep going. All I ever did was play football, and now I have serious doubts about whether I’ll keep doing it for much longer. You were by my side from the very beginning; there was so little left until the end. Why couldn’t you hold on just a little longer so we could finish it together?

“I know that what made you happy was seeing your family doing well—your wife, your children — and above all, between us, watching me play … (wink)

“It had always been that way, ever since I was little. You took me to every training session as soon as you got home from work. Mom took me to many of them because you were working.

“Of course, you never missed a single match. How you suffered watching me, and how much you enjoyed it, even though you never gave me much praise.

“You were my dad, my friend, and my agent. You were always the person you needed to be in every moment, and you were never wrong about anything. Despite the occasional arguments or fights, you were always right. In the end, things always turned out the way you said they would.

“I’m going to miss you so much, but you’ll always be with me, especially in the way I raise my children, because I teach and raise them the way you and Mom raised me.

“Rest in peace and keep watching over us from above the way you did down here. Thank you for everything.

“I love you, Dad.”