Luxembourg defeats Bulgaria, Finland defeats San Marino in the European Nations League, Messi bids farewell to the Argentine national team, and Germany submits a request to host the 2036, 2040, or 2044 Olympics.

The Luxembourg national team achieved a surprise victory over its host, the Bulgarian national team, 2-1, on Saturday, in the first round of the fourth group competitions in the third level of the European Nations League.

Bulgaria took the lead with a goal scored by Asen Chandarov in the 18th minute, but Luxembourg equalized through Leandro Bareiro in the 37th minute.

Vincent Thiel scored the winning goal for the visiting team in the 65th minute, giving Luxembourg its first 3 points in the group.

In another match in the same group, Iceland tied with its guest Estonia 1-1.

Iceland took the lead with a goal scored by Andre Gudjundsson in the 45th minute, before Estonia equalized through Maxim Paskuzzi in the 64th minute.

An Estonian national team goal scored by Kevor Palomets in the 52nd minute was cancelled.

In the town of Serravalli in San Marino, the Finnish national team achieved a major victory over its host San Marino, 7-0, on Saturday, in the first round of Group A competitions in the third level of the European Nations League.

The Finnish national team took the lead with an early goal scored by Yoel Pohanbalu in the fifth minute, before Simon Svanbak added the second goal in the 14th minute.

Benjamin Kalman increased Finland's lead with the third goal in the 33rd minute, then Leo Walta added the fourth goal in the 50th minute, before the same player returned and scored the fifth goal 5 minutes later.

Pohanbalu completed his personal hat-trick by scoring the sixth goal in the 79th minute from a penalty kick, and then concluded Finland's goals in the 88th minute, also from a penalty kick.

The match saw San Marino player Michele Golinucci sent off in the 52nd minute, leaving the hosts to complete the match with ten players.

Lionel Scaloni, the coach of the Argentine national football team, admitted that Lionel Messi's last match with the national team against Benin on October 6 will be a very emotional occasion, stressing that he wants to bid farewell to the former team captain in the way he wishes.

Scaloni said: “It will be difficult not to cry,” explaining that he was keen for Messi to have the opportunity to say goodbye in front of his country’s fans at the “Monumental” stadium in the capital, Buenos Aires.

Messi announced his retirement from international football earlier, after an exceptional career with the Argentine national team during which he played 207 matches and scored 125 goals since his first international appearance in 2005, becoming the record holder in appearances and goals with his country's national team.

Messi contributed to Argentina winning the Copa America title in 2021 and 2024, in addition to winning the 2022 World Cup, before reaching the 2026 World Cup final with the team, which it lost to Spain.

It is expected that Messi will appear for the last time in an Argentina shirt against Benin, amid special preparations to honor the 39-year-old star.

Adidas is preparing to prepare a special shirt for Messi in the farewell match, as the shirt will bear a custom logo in the shape of the letter “M” instead of the company’s logo in its usual place. The design also includes golden details on the team’s logo and the shirt number.

Messi is also scheduled to wear custom shoes for the match, predominantly white with black and blue details and golden touches.

In another context, Scaloni announced that defender Cristian Romero will be the new captain of the Argentine national team after Messi retires from international football.

“The leader will be Romero,” Scaloni said during a press conference on Friday evening. He was already the third captain after Messi and Nicolas Otamendi. Emiliano Martinez can also wear the captain’s armband, as can Rodrigo De Paul, and so can Lautaro Martinez.”

Romero, who is 28 years old, has previously worn the Argentina captaincy three times, during the 1-0 victory over Chile in the 2025 World Cup qualifiers, and in a friendly match against Venezuela in the same year, and then against Mauritania before the 2026 World Cup.

On Saturday, the German Olympic Committee chose the city of Munich to submit an application to the International Olympic Committee to host the Summer Olympic Games in the years 2036, 2040 or 2044, ahead of the Cologne/Rhein-Ruhr bid.

Germany is thus making its eighth attempt to submit an Olympic bid since 1972, when Munich hosted the Summer Olympics, which particularly witnessed the attack on the Israeli delegation in the Olympic Village, which resulted in the killing of 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team.

As for the other two Olympic Games that were held on German soil, they were in 1936, winter in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and summer in Berlin.

The 1936 Summer Olympics, which was its centenary ten years later, were used as a propaganda tool by Nazi-era Germany.

In an indication of support at the highest level in the country, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced the decision in the city of Baden-Baden, southwest of the country, in the presence of former President of the International Olympic Committee, German Thomas Bach.

The Munich file focuses in particular on the Olympic Park located north of the city, inherited from the 1972 Games, and which has been undergoing modernization for several years. The city center, and the rest of the Munich urban area, is also widely involved in a cohesive project.

In the fall of 2025, the city of Munich organized a popular consultation that showed broad support for the project by 66.4 percent, with participation amounting to 42 percent, after two of the last three German attempts to host the Olympic Games collided with the obstacle of popular referendums, namely the Munich bid for the 2022 Winter Games, and the Hamburg bid for the 2024 Summer Games.

Munich and the German Olympic Committee will now continue the “continuous dialogue” phase with the International Olympic Committee until March 2027, when an initial selection is made, to move to the “strategic dialogue” phase, where the selected files will undergo a more detailed evaluation and visits from the future host committee.

At the end of 2028, the International Olympic Committee will identify “one or more preferred hosts,” with the selected candidates providing a series of guarantees before the final decision on the hosting winner is made in mid-2029.

For his part, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz expressed his hope that his country would organize the Olympic Games, after the city of Munich chose a German candidate to host the games on its soil.

The head of the German Christian Democratic Party wrote on the X platform on Saturday: “The Olympic Games belong to Germany.” Munich is our candidate to organize the Games, and the whole of Germany stands behind its candidacy. We want to bring the Olympics and Paralympics to our country, to live goosebumps, to achieve great successes, to create unforgettable moments, and for an entire country to react to the event with enthusiasm.”

As for Jurgen Klopp, the coach of the German national football team, he expressed his support for his country’s plans to host the Olympic Games, recalling emotional memories from his childhood with the major sporting event.

Klopp said in an interview with the ARD network on Saturday: “All my memories of sports actually began with the Olympic Games. We parked the car in the parking lot, slept there, and managed to get tickets somewhere. “I was five years old at the time.”

He added: “I very much hope to experience this feeling again.” "It's time to bring the Olympics back to Germany."

Although Klopp will be almost at retirement age if Germany hosts the Games in 2046, that did not diminish his enthusiasm. He said: “I will be seventy-seven years old then, and I still want to live the Olympic Games experience.”

The German national team coach stressed that what he most dreams of is restoring the feeling of unity and togetherness that Germany experienced during the 2006 World Cup, adding: “We loved ourselves more than ever before, and more than we did again for a long time after that.”