Lionel Messi, 39, broke his silence on Instagram after attending his father’s funeral in Rosario, sharing an emotional statement that opened with “Pa, I still can’t believe you’re gone.”
Jorge Messi, the father and longtime agent of Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi, died Saturday at the age of 68, according to Sanatorio Centro, the medical center in Rosario, Argentina, where he was receiving care.
Dr. Carlos Mackey, the hospital’s medical director, confirmed that Jorge Messi passed away in the early hours of the morning.
Jorge is survived by his wife, Celia Cuccittini, and four children: Lionel and his two older brothers, Rodrigo and Matías, and Lionel’s younger sister, María Sol.
In his Instagram post,
Messi wrote: “Pa, I still can’t believe you’re gone. I don’t fall, or rather, I don’t want to fall. It’s very difficult for me to imagine that I’m not going to see you anymore, that we’re not going to talk anymore. I know you were hurting and it’s for the best, but you left too soon. We still had a lot to enjoy together.”
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner elaborated on his father’s role as his guide throughout his career.
He called Jorge “my dad, my friend and my agent,” writing: “You were always the person that had to be there in every moment. You never made mistakes. You were always right. In the end, everything turned out as you said.”
Messi addressed the emotional toll his father’s health crisis took during the World Cup tournament in North America this summer.
He wrote: “When each game finished, I waited for and then missed your messages. That was when I realised how bad the situation was.”
Despite the pain, Messi pushed himself to play well and advance through the tournament, hoping his father would improve enough to attend.
“But I did not stop thinking about going as far as possible, to give you time and for you to be able to see a game if we reached the final. But you could not be there. I wanted to win it to bring it home and show you [the World Cup] again. I couldn’t, my legs had nothing left to give. I tried, but I couldn’t.”
Argentina lost to Spain in the July 19 final.
“We couldn’t speak about anything that had happened. I couldn’t enjoy anything,” Messi continued.
The footballer then raised profound questions about his future in the sport.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do without you, I don’t know how to keep going. I only played football, and now I have a lot of doubts that I’ll keep doing it for much longer,” Messi wrote.
He closed with a commitment to honor his father’s legacy through raising his children.
“Rest in peace and watch over us from above as you did here. Thank you for everything. I love you, Dad,” Messi concluded.
The Argentine businessman worked as a steel executive and managed his son’s career for decades.
He traveled with a young Messi to Barcelona in the early 2000s for the trial that would open the doors to La Masia, the club’s youth academy.
Jorge’s presence loomed over the early weeks of the 2026 World Cup.
The captain of the Argentinian national team experienced mixed emotions after scoring a hat-trick in the opening match against Algeria, breaking down in tears while celebrating his first goal, and later explained that his tears were due to “something unrelated to football” after going through “a few difficult, complicated days.”
“It’s for a reason completely unrelated to sports; I’ve had some difficult, complicated days,” Messi said at the time. “The truth is, it’s mostly for my family. Because, well, they’re always there, always supporting me. We’re going through a difficult time right now.”
The family publicly acknowledged the health crisis shortly after.
“He is currently dealing with a health issue” and was “under medical supervision, recovering, and showing favorable progress given his condition,” a statement read.
This marked the second time false reports of Jorge’s death had circulated.
A previous death announcement was the subject of controversy in June that led to the resignation of an Argentine TV host, Florencia Peña, who stepped down after incorrectly reporting that Jorge Messi had died in the run-up to the World Cup, saying she relied on bad information fed to her through an earpiece.
In the viral moment this past June, Jorge Messi had been staying at a medical facility in Rosario while his son navigated one of soccer’s biggest tournaments.
His illness became a topic of discussion during the 2026 World Cup, when his family acknowledged a health situation as Lionel Messi competed.
Jorge was unable to attend matches for the first time in his son’s career, adding to the emotional weight on the captain as Argentina pushed toward the final.
Tributes poured in from across the soccer world immediately after his death.
Newell’s Old Boys, the Rosario-based club where Lionel Messi played as a youth before moving to Europe, confirmed his passing and paid tribute on social media, saying: “Renowned leproso fan (as Newell’s fans are known), businessman and father of the captain of the Argentine national team, Lionel Andrés Messi. Jorge was the support and the person who underpinned with vision, rigor and affection the career of the best player of all time along with his wife, Celia Cuccittini.”
Inter Miami paid tribute to their absent captain Lionel Messi in Saturday’s Leagues Cup loss to Monterrey, holding a minute’s silence ahead of kickoff with Jorge Messi’s name shown on screens inside the stadium and Miami players wearing black armbands, while in the 10th minute, the same number Messi has worn on his jersey, fans chanted and unveiled flags in support of the Miami captain.
Inter Miami wrote on X: “Our hearts are with our captain, Leo, and his entire family,” while Paris Saint-Germain, the star’s former club, also sent “all our support to Leo, his family and loved ones at this difficult time.”
Football superstar Lionel Messi returned to Rosario, Argentina with his family on Saturday, a day after his father and longtime agent Jorge Messi died aged 68.
A private ceremony with close family and a few Argentina teammates took place at a cemetery in the town of Perez, adjacent to Rosario, later Sunday.
Lionel Messi spent time with his father after the World Cup before rejoining his club, Inter Miami, for whom he returned to action a week ago.