Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe, Mohamed Salah and Lamine Yamal

The first international break of 2025 sees club football pause for almost a fortnight as players jet off to play for their countries.

For some it’s a distraction as we come to the business end of the European season and for others it offers the chance to refresh and either start or continue the long slog towards qualification for next summer’s World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Here, we take a look to see where the game’s global superstars will be playing:

Lionel Messi

Messi has made an impressive start to the new season with Inter Miami with four goals in six games in all competitions, despite being rested on occasion by new boss Javier Mascherano.

The 37-year-old is still going strong for his country as well and has regularly spoken of his desire to help Argentina defend the World Cup crown they won in Qatar in 2022.

La Albiceleste sit top of the Conmebol qualification table, five points ahead of Uruguay. They require just seven more points to secure their place at the finals.

Messi will lead the side in two big games over this international break.

March 21
Uruguay v Argentina (Montevideo) – 11.30pm UK time

March 26
Argentina v Brazil (Buenos Aires) – midnight UK time

🇦🇷 The pre-list for the next two games against Uruguay and Brazil for the 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝘾𝙪𝙥 𝙌𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙚𝙧𝙨! 📝 pic.twitter.com/BFPDhI62oz

— Selección Argentina in English (@AFASeleccionEN) March 2, 2025

Cristiano Ronaldo

Ronaldo continues to score goals at an impressive rate for Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, even though some of the burden has been relieved by the January signing of Jhon Duran from Aston Villa.

He also has 135 goals in 217 games for Portugal and will be hoping to add to that tally when Portugal play in the Nations League quarter-finals against Denmark.

The winners will meet either Italy or Germany in the semis.

March 20
Denmark v Portugal (Copenhagen) – 7.45pm UK time

March 23
Portugal v Denmark (Lisbon) – 7.45pm UK time

Kylian Mbappe

The striker appears to be finding his groove at Real Madrid after a difficult start and his brace at Villarreal on Saturday saw him move to 28 goals in an impressive debut season at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Mbappe was recalled to the France squad by Didier Deschamps after being left out for the last two international breaks of 2024 due to concerns over his fitness.

Les Bleus are also in the Nations League and face a two-legged semi against Croatia.

March 20
Croatia v France (Split) – 7.45pm UK time

March 23
France v Croatia (Paris) – 7.45pm UK time

Mohamed Salah

Salah, and his club side Liverpool, have endured a miserable few days. First, they were knocked out of the Champions League at the round of 16 stage by Paris Saint-Germain and then beaten by Newcastle in the final of the EFL Cup.

Salah was largely anonymous in both games and it will be interesting to see his workload over this international break.

Egypt have already started their World Cup qualifying campaign and sit top of Group A in the CAF confederation with 10 points from three games. 

March 21

Ethiopia v Egypt (Casablanca) – 9pm UK time

March 25

Egypt v Sierra Leone (Cairo) – 7pm UK time

Lamine Yamal

The teenage superstar continues to sparkle for Barcelona and scored in both the Champions League win over Benfica on Tuesday night and Sunday’s incredible 4-2 victory at Atletico Madrid, a game in which Barca trailed 2-0 after 70 minutes.

He is likely to start in his familiar right-wing role as Spain face a Nations League quarter-final clash with the Netherlands. The winner will play either Croatia or France in the last four.

March 20

Netherlands v Spain (Rotterdam) – 7.45pm UK time

March 23
Spain v Netherlands (Valencia) – 7.45 UK time