Argentina have made a massive Lionel Messi decision that was rejected by FIFA in 2002

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Argentina have made a huge Lionel Messi call that they attempted to make with Diego Maradona over 20 years ago.

Even after finally getting his hands on the World Cup last year, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner is still committed to the Argentina national team.

The Argentina and Inter Miami captain desperately wants to lift the Copa America for the second time and is set to miss seven MLS games because of international commitments next year.

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Record scorer Messi has scored 106 times in 180 appearances for La Albiceleste and there will never be another like him.

And Argentina are set to commemorate his incredible achievements in the same way as they did with Maradona, the genius No.10 that came before Messi.

The 1986 World Cup winner was honoured by his country as they tried to retire his iconic No.10 shirt for a period.

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Ariel Ortega was selected as the last player to wear No.10, with then-AFA president Julio Grondona keen for it to be unavailable.

The idea was that it would be retired for the 2002 World Cup but FIFA rejected the request as teams needed to have numbers 1 to 23 in the tournament.

While they were unsuccessful, Argentina are hopeful that they are able to retire the shirt for when Messi calls it quits with the national team.

Understandably, they feel as though no other player should wear the jersey.

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“When Messi retires from the national team, we will not allow anyone else to wear the number 10 after him. This number ’10’ will be retired for life in his honour. It’s the least we can do for him,” current AFA president Claudio ‘Chiqui’ Tapia told an Argentine newspaper, as per MARCA.

Maradona’s No.10 has been retired by Napoli but Barcelona are not able to do the same with Messi due to La Liga’s shirt regulations.