Gareth Bale has decided to hang his boots from professional football at the age of 33. The Welsh player announced the surprising news on his social media platforms on Monday. Bale played for clubs like Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Real Madrid, and LAFC and went on to become one of the best players in Wales football history.
Bale, well known for his agility on the pitch, made his professional debut for Southampton. After impressing with his game for Southampton, Bale signed a contract with Tottenham Hotspur in May 2007.
Subsequently, he signed a six-year contract with Spanish giants Real Madrid FC for a then-world-record fee of €100 million. Bale won three La Liga titles, one Copa del Rey, and five Champions Leagues (2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2022) with Los Blancos. He also scored via an overhead kick in the 2018 Champions League final against Liverpool.
“After careful and thoughtful consideration, I announce my immediate retirement from the club and international football,” Bale said in a statement.
“I feel incredibly fortunate to have realised my dream of playing the sport I love. It has truly given me some of the best moments of my life. The highest of highs over 17 seasons, that will be impossible to replicate, no matter what the next chapter has in store for me.”
“To show my gratitude to all of those that have played their part along this journey feels like an impossibility,” Bale added. “I feel indebted to many people for helping to change my life and shape my career in a way I couldn’t ever have dreamed of when I first started out at 9 years old.
“To my previous clubs Southampton, Tottenham, Real Madrid and finally LAFC, all of my managers and coaches, backroom staff, teammates, all the dedicated fans, my agents, my amazing friends and family, the impact you have had is immeasurable.”
Bale played 111 matches for Wales in which he scored 41 goals. The forward’s last appearance for his country in a 3-0 defeat against England in the FIFA World Cup 2022.
“My journey on the international stage is one that has changed not only my life but who I am,” Bale wrote. “The fortune of being Welsh and being selected to play for and captain Wales has given me something incomparable to anything else I’ve experienced.
“I am honored and humbled to have been able to play a part in the history of this incredible country, to have felt the support and passion of the red wall, and together have been to unexpected and amazing places.”
Bale has not shared what his next plans are: “I move on with anticipation to the next stage of my life,” he wrote in his retirement statement. “A time of change and transition, an opportunity for a new adventure.”
