For more than two decades, the number 10 on Argentina’s shirt has meant one thing to football fans around the world: Lionel Messi.
From his teenage years to World Cup glory, Messi transformed the shirt from a number worn by a footballer into a symbol closely associated with an era of Argentine football.
But even after his international career comes to an end, Argentina will not be able to permanently remove the famous No. 10 from its squad list.
The reason is not sentiment, tradition or a lack of appreciation for Messi’s extraordinary contribution to the national team.
It is FIFA’s regulations.
The Argentine Football Association (AFA) had reportedly considered retiring the No. 10 shirt as a lasting tribute to Messi following his decision to bring his international career to a close after more than 20 years with the national team.
That plan, however, runs into FIFA’s squad-number regulations for international tournaments.
The number Messi made iconic
Messi has worn Argentina’s No. 10 shirt for much of his international career, carrying it through some of the most significant moments in the country’s modern football history.
His journey with the national team began more than two decades ago and eventually produced the trophies that had eluded him for much of his career.
The defining moment came at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, where Messi captained Argentina to the title and finished the tournament as one of its central figures.
By the time his international career reached its final chapter, the No. 10 had become almost inseparable from his name.
Messi has made 207 appearances for Argentina and scored 125 goals, according to the figures cited in the report.
He announced his international retirement on August 31 and is expected to make a farewell appearance when Argentina face Benin in a friendly at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires on October 6.
For Argentina, that would mark the beginning of life after Messi.
But there is one part of his legacy the country cannot simply freeze in time.
Why FIFA says the shirt must return
FIFA regulations require teams participating in international final tournaments to assign squad numbers from 1 through 26.
That requirement effectively prevents Argentina from permanently retiring the No. 10 if the national team is to comply with the tournament regulations.
In other words, Messi may leave the international stage, but his shirt cannot leave with him.
Argentina is not the first country to encounter the problem.
Liberia previously retired the No. 14 shirt in honour of former striker and president George Weah. The country was later required to use the number during its 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign because of FIFA’s squad-number rules.
The situation illustrates an unusual tension in international football: while national teams can celebrate their greatest players symbolically, FIFA’s competition regulations can still determine what happens to the numbers on their backs.
Who gets Messi’s No. 10?
For now, Argentina are not rushing to hand the shirt to another player.
Head coach Lionel Scaloni has indicated that the No. 10 will remain untouched around Messi’s farewell before a decision is made on its next wearer.
“We are not obliged to assign it for the upcoming matches, so we will give it to no one until after Leo’s farewell match. We just have not yet decided who,” Scaloni said, according to ESPN.
That decision could eventually bring another young Argentine into one of the most heavily scrutinised shirts in world football.
One name already being mentioned is Nico Paz.
Nico Paz and the weight of the No. 10
According to ESPN Argentina reporter Federico Bueno, Paz could become the next player to wear Argentina’s No. 10 if Scaloni extends his contract as national team coach.
“If Scaloni extends his contract as Argentina head coach, then Nico Paz will be the new number 10. That has been decided internally,” Bueno reported.
Paz is 22 and has already established himself within Argentina’s senior setup. He previously came through at Real Madrid before completing a permanent move to Italian side Como for a reported €60 million last summer.
He has made 11 appearances for Argentina and scored once.
But inheriting Messi’s shirt would be a different challenge altogether.
The No. 10 would not simply be another squad number. It would carry the memory of the player who wore it through Argentina’s long wait for World Cup glory and turned it into one of the most recognisable numbers in football.
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Whether Paz eventually takes it or another player does, the symbolism will be impossible to ignore.
Messi leaves, but the No. 10 stays
There is something fittingly complicated about Argentina’s situation.
The country may want to preserve Messi’s No. 10 forever, but football’s governing rules demand that the number remain part of the game.
The shirt will therefore continue.
Someone else will eventually wear it. Someone else will walk onto the pitch carrying the number that Messi made synonymous with Argentina.
But whoever takes it will not simply be stepping into a vacant shirt.
They will be stepping into the shadow of a legacy built over more than two decades — and into a number that, for an entire generation of football supporters, will forever mean Lionel Messi.