Messi faces a lawsuit over the Argentina national team

A company specializing in organizing sporting events has filed a lawsuit against Lionel Messi after he missed two friendly matches with the Argentina national team in 2025.
The American newspaper “New York Post” reported that “Fed”, a company specializing in organizing major sports and music events based in Miami, filed a lawsuit against Messi and the Argentine Football Association on charges of fraud and breach of contract.
The lawsuit claims that Fed obtained exclusive rights to two friendly matches that the Argentine national team was scheduled to play in October 2025 against Venezuela and Puerto Rico.
The crisis is that Messi was contractually obligated to play at least 30 minutes in each match unless he was injured, which made the company pay 7 million US dollars to the Argentine Federation as part of the deal.
However, Messi did not participate in either match, as he preferred not to participate in the October 11 match at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami – although he attended the match and watched it from a private box – in order to be available for the Inter Miami match the following night in the MLS final.
Argentina’s friendly with Puerto Rico was moved from Soldier Field in Chicago to the former Inter Miami stadium in Fort Lauderdale, which prosecutors allege caused a loss of more than $1 million.
There are conflicting reports about the reasons for the decision to move the match, as initial reports indicated that it came as a result of the social protests that followed President Donald Trump’s attempt to send National Guard forces to Chicago.
For his part, Chicago Parks Department spokesman Luca Serra told the Associated Press that the change of venue was due to a decline in ticket sales, and that the organizing party made the decision.
The lawsuit says that the Argentine Football Association promised Fed to compensate by holding a future match against China in 2026, which did not happen.
This is not the first time that a lawsuit has been filed due to Messi not participating in a match, contrary to what he promised the fans.
The MLS and the Vancouver Whitecaps reached a class-action settlement last March after a lawsuit was filed against the two entities after fans claimed they relied on “misleading promotional materials” regarding Messi’s participation in a match on May 25, 2024.