Messi to receive University of Buenos Aires' highest honor before Benin farewell

Lionel Messi will receive the University of Buenos Aires' highest honorary distinction — the Doctor Honoris Causa — at the Estadio Monumental on 6 October, hours before his Argentina farewell against Benin.

The announcement

Lionel Messi has received another accolade — this one far from football. The Argentina captain has been awarded the Doctor Honoris Causa, the highest honorary distinction of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), one of Latin America's most prestigious academic institutions.

The decision was approved unanimously by the university's Superior Council, which cited Messi's professional career, his representation of Argentina, the values he has demonstrated throughout his career, and his influence beyond the pitch.

Why the university chose him

UBA's announcement framed the honor as recognition of more than sporting excellence. Alongside the trophies — the World Cup, the Copa Américas, the Ballon d'Ors — the council pointed to what it called Messi's values and his off-field influence: the hospitals, the charities, the quiet philanthropy that has rarely sought headlines.

It is a recognition, in other words, of the person as much as the player — granted at the exact moment the player is saying goodbye.

The ceremony: Monumental, October 6

The distinction will be presented at the Estadio Monumental on 6 October 2026, prior to Argentina's friendly against Benin — the match designated as Messi's farewell to the national team. The ceremony will take place before his last game in the shirt, in front of the home crowd.

The staging is deliberate. The farewell was already set to be an evening of tributes; the university's honor adds an institutional, almost state-like weight to the occasion — Argentina's most important university bowing to its most famous son, on the pitch where he will say goodbye.

A farewell week of honors

The UBA distinction caps a remarkable week of recognition for the 39-year-old. Days earlier he completed the takeover of Spanish club CD Eldense; meanwhile the AFA's hope of retiring his No. 10 shirt was blocked by FIFA's numbering rules — a reminder that even tributes have limits.

Through it all, the central event remains unchanged: on Tuesday night in Buenos Aires, Messi will wear the Argentina shirt one final time, against Benin, before a crowd that will include the university delegation honoring him hours earlier.

What the title means

The Doctor Honoris Causa is not an academic degree but the highest honor a university can bestow — traditionally reserved for figures whose life's work the institution wishes to hold up as exemplary. UBA's list of honorees spans scientists, writers and statespeople; Messi now joins it as the footballer who carried Argentina's name further than anyone.

For a man who left Rosario as a boy and never attended university, it is an unlikely distinction — and perhaps, for that reason, a fitting one.

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