All football matches in Argentina will be paused in the 10th minute for a minute-long applause in tribute to Lionel Messi, following his decision to retire from the national team.The Inter Miami star, 39, confirmed earlier this week that he will not play for Argentina again, following this summer’s World Cup.Messi said the decision “hurts deep in my soul”, but added that he “realises the time has come” for him to stop playing for Argentina, with whom he won the 2022 World Cup and the Copa America titles in 2021 and 2024.The Argentine Football Association (AFA) confirmed on Thursday that every match “across all categories” of football in the nation will pause when the clock hits 10 minutes, at which point a full minute’s round of applause will take place. The number 10 is the number Messi has worn most often for his clubs and country.This mandate includes all men’s and women’s football, and extends to futsal and beach soccer games.“Furthermore, stadiums equipped with screens must broadcast the Association’s institutional video prior to the start of the matches,” the AFA added.The applause started on Wednesday in the Copa Argentina match between Velez Sarsfield and Boca Juniors.Messi won the World Cup with Argentina in 2022. (Clive Brunskill / Getty Images)This summer was Messi’s sixth World Cup and one in which he became only the second player (after Brazil’s Cafu) to appear in three men’s World Cup finals, having won the previous edition in 2022 and been a runner-up to Germany in 2014 and then to Spain this year.Argentina’s next major tournament will be the Copa America in 2028, when Messi will be aged 41. The next World Cup, which will have one match in Argentina (as well as one each in Paraguay and Uruguay) before being primarily hosted in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, would see Messi turn 43 midway through.Messi, contracted for another two years with MLS club Inter Miami, is widely recognised as one of the best players of all time, and is his country’s all-time record appearance holder (207) and goalscorer (125).