COMMENT
Once, not that long ago, I had the privilege of meeting tennis legend Roger Federer.
Leveraging his South African heritage, Federer travelled to South Africa and — along with Springbok captain Siya Kolisi — went on a tour through the country to promote and check in on his Federer Foundation, which does important philanthropic work here.
I had known for several weeks that I would meet and interview Federer, and had much time to prepare, convinced that I would impress the former World No 1. We would become mates, I told myself — Federer and I on the tear — what a tale that would tell.
I had practised my mannerisms and recited the words I would say. ‘Give him a firm handshake,’ I coached myself. Not that type of handshake where you go in to greet another person on first meeting, and because of your unfamiliarity, your fingertips get clutched, your wrist goes limp, and you dare not look the other person in the eye, but rather a proper ‘How’s your father?’
Upon first meeting Federer, the handshake was well-gripped, but then there spilled from me a mumble of words — inaudible, incoherent, and slightly embarrassing: an audible short-circuit of the brain. I had simply not accounted for the possibility of being THAT star-struck.
I suspect, should one ever have the chance to meet Lionel Messi, a similar mortification would follow.
Earlier this week, it was revealed by Argentina that Messi would make one last appearance for his nation. Much controversy surrounds the Argentine team after the recent Fifa World Cup 2026 in North America. Argentina, captained by Messi, did not endear themselves to many neutral supporters, owing to political statements, conspiracies of Fifa patronage, and a rather negative tactical approach in the final of the showpiece event, which they ultimately lost 1–0 to Spain.
Regardless of the noise, when Messi takes to the pitch in early October against Benin for the final time in the albiceleste of Argentina, it will bring down the curtain on a defining era. Alongside Messi, titans like Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modrić, Robert Lewandowski, Manuel Neuer, and Kevin De Bruyne — who collectively governed the sport for the last two decades — are all walking into the sunset together.
Meanwhile, the likes of Lamine Yamal, Jude Bellingham, Endrick, Pau Cubarsí, Florian Wirtz, and Arda Güler are already stepping forward to define the next era.
Nonetheless, I suspect for many, Messi will remain the Greatest of All Time. Much as we still debate Pelé, Diego Maradona, Johan Cruyff, and Zinedine Zidane and their place in the pecking order, long after we are gone, the same will be true of Messi.
He will always be my GOAT — it’s a hill I would die on. He dominated every league he played in (no, he was no journeyman), and was the talisman of his nation for decades, inspiring his countrymen to greater heights, including the most prestigious of all: the World Cup.
From a South African’s perspective, he reminds me of Kolisi, Graeme Smith, Temba Bavuma, and John Smit — perhaps even François Pienaar, Ronwen Williams or Lucas Radebe. Leaders who did not merely play for their crest, but bore the weight of a country's hopes and lifted them into history.
His farewell match then represents something bigger than football. It reminds us of our own fragility, mortality, and the one-way trip of time — the fleeting futility of a moment and the lasting memory of a legacy, evolution, and the ever-dynamic shift of this mortal coil.
I never did get to deliver that perfect greeting to Federer, and I’ll likely never get the chance to stumble over my words in front of Messi. But perhaps that’s the point.
Some icons are meant to exist just beyond our reach — far enough to keep us in awe, yet close enough to shape the way we remember an entire era of our lives. They are cornerstones of a generation, like the end of Apartheid, 9/11, two consecutive Rugby World Cups, the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Champions like him and Federer don't just leave behind records and silverware; they leave us with memories that linger long after the lights go down. We won't see them again, but how lucky we were to witness it.