We’re still waiting to see Euro 2024 winners Spain take on Copa America holders Argentina in the Artemio Franchi Cup – also known as the Finalissima – and the mouth-watering prospect of seeing Lionel Messi face off against his anointed successor Lamine Yamal.
Yamal looks to be Barcelona’s most talented starlet since Messi broke out of La Masia two decades ago. The two players are opposite ends of their careers and time is running out if we’re ever to see the pair of them share the same pitch.
We’ve broken down everything you need to know about the next Finallisima between Spain and Argentina.
History of the Finalissima
The Finalissima was originally created in 1985, named after former UEFA president Artemio Franchi, who died in a road accident a couple of years prior.
It was conceived as an international answer to the Intercontinental Cup, played between the winners of the European Cup and Copa Libertadores.
The first edition of the tournament saw Michel Platini’s France, winners of the 1984 Euros on home soil, take on Uruguay, who beat Brazil in the two-legged 1983 Copa America final. Les Bleus ran out 2-0 winners at the Parc des Princes.
No such arrangement could be agreed between the Netherlands and Uruguay four years later, but the competition returned in 1993 – with Diego Maradona’s Argentina beating shock Euro 92 winners Denmark on penalties at the Estadio Jose Maria Minella in Mar del Plata, Argentina.
FIFA’s Confederations Cup then took the Artemio Franchi Cup’s place for the next couple of decades as an expanded World Cup dress rehearsal tournament, eventually ending in 2017.
In 2020, UEFA and CONMEBOL signed a deal to “enhance cooperation” between the two federations, which included relaunching the old Artemio Franchi Cup to be known as the ‘CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions’ or Finalissima.
Messi’s Argentina trounced Italy with a resounding 3-0 victory in the 2022 Finalissima at Wembley. Some occasion it was, too.
What’s been said
Officials from UEFA and CONMEBOL have been tight-lipped after the next Finalissima.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has not spoken about the event on record, nor has CONMEBOL head honcho Alejandro Dominguez.
But in 2021, the federations of South America and Europe signed a renewed memorandum of understanding lasting until 2028, which is believed to include plans for the next edition of the Finalissima.
UEFA’s official statement at the time specified that the new agreement “contains specific provisions related to the opening of a shared UEFA/CONMEBOL office in London and the potential organisation of a variety of football events.”
Scheduling headache
The last Finalissima took place on June 1st, 2022 – twelve months after Argentina and Italy won the Copa America and European Championships respectively.
However, it appears almost certain that we won’t be seeing a repeat of that scheduling this summer. An event of that size would have to have been announced by now, while FIFA’s expanded World Club Cup seems to have put the kibosh on the prospect of a major international final.
Regardless, Argentina have World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Colombia in June. Spain could potentially be free for friendlies, but could well be in the Nations League final or third-fourth place play-off depending on the result of their upcoming quarter-final against the Netherlands.
The outcome of Spain’s clash with the Netherlands will determine which group they’re in for UEFA’s upcoming 2026 World Cup qualifiers, but either way that will occupy their pair of fixtures in each of next season’s September, October and November international breaks.
All that leaves March 2026 as the earliest viable opportunity for the Finalissima – as well as the last possible window of opportunity before attention turns to the 2026 World Cup. TyC Sports have reported that plans are in place for that window.
At this point it looks almost certain that Argentina will qualify with games to spare, meaning they won’t be in March 2026’s scheduled inter-confederation World Cup play-offs.
However, if Spain mess up qualifying they could end up in UEFA’s second-round play-offs – which would throw a major spanner in the works for the Finalissima.
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A Camp Nou farewell for Messi?
We await a date and we also await news of a venue.
But Argentinian outlet BOLA VIP have suggested that Barcelona president Joan Laporta has thrown his hat into the ring for the Camp Nou to host the showpiece occasion.
The relationship between Laporta and Messi is believed to be frosty following the difficult circumstances of the Argentinian’s shock exit in 2021. Messi has often said he didn’t want to leave, but the club’s precarious financial position necessitated his departure.
Nevertheless, Laporta has spoken of his desire for Barcelona’s revamped Camp Nou to host a farewell match for the club’s greatest-ever player.
A friendly between Barcelona and Inter Miami has been mooted, but the Finalissima would offer an alternative for Messi to receive a proper Catalonian send-off.
Work on the 105,000-capacity stadium (the biggest in Europe) is set to be completed in June 2026, but it will reopen before then.
Barcelona’s latest statement in February suggested that the Camp Nou could yet reopen before the end of the 2024-25 season “with a partial capacity of more than 60,000 spectators.”
Let’s see what happens. But the new Camp Nou sounds like the perfect venue to see Yamal and Messi on the same pitch.
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