The career of a football player is relatively short, especially compared to other professions due to physical issues, but it is also much more beneficial from an economic point of view, at least at the top level. The reasons for a football player to retire are normally associated with their physical condition, either because of age or injuries, and, logically, having solid finances, they can leave their professional activity in their thirties.
Next, we are going to review the most relevant football players on the world scene who retired in 2022, especially some who went a little unnoticed:
Gerard Piqué: It is possibly the most notorious retirement of 2022, both because of the player’s high profile and the entire situation surrounding his retirement. The defender had made it clear that he did not want to play for another club that was not FC Barcelona, but his situation at the Catalan club was complex because his contract was high and the culé team is in a delicate financial situation, in addition to the fact that Gerard was becoming less important on the football side of things. To this, we must add his controversies off the field and his multiple businesses that require his constant attention.
Franck Ribery: The Bayern Munich legend ended his career playing two seasons in Italy, the first at Fiorentina and the second at Salernitana where he completed his contract year and decided to retire at 39 years of age. The Frenchman stayed at the maroon club, serving as part of coach Davide Nicola’s staff.
Blaise Matuidi: the world champion with France in 2018 ended his career in 2022 after being left out of his club’s squad, Inter Miami, for the 2022 season. He played his last game as a professional in November 2021 but his retirement was officially announced last year.
John Mikel Obi: The Nigerian’s case is similar to that of Matuidi since he played his last game in 2021 but it was not until 2022 that he officially announced his retirement. After his departure from Chelsea in 2017, he had stints through China, and Turkey, two returns to England to play in the Championship, and a very brief spell in Kuwait.
Rodrigo Palacio: At age 40, Palacio decided to leave professional football activity after ending his relationship with Brescia, the club where he played his last season. Curiously, and unlike other players who decide to become part of football from another place (director of football, manager, agent, etc.), Palacio decided to switch to basketball where he plays in the Italian Serie D.
Gary Cahill: The English defender, best known for his time at Chelsea, retired in 2022 after a one-season stint at Bournemouth in the Championship, where he started out as a key player but lost prominence in the second half of the 2021/22 season. The club achieved promotion but Cahill did not continue with The Cherries and decided to end his career as a football player.
Arda Turan: Turan who was one of the most outstanding players of Simeone’s time at Atlético de Madrid, failed to revalidate that after leaving the Madrid club and after a second spell at Galatasaray, he retired from professional football at the age of 35.
Fred: The Brazilian striker who is considered a legend at Fluminense (not to be confused with the current Manchester United player) decided to retire from football at the age of 39, although the main reason for his decision is not age or physical condition but a vision problem called diplopia, also called double vision.
Gonzalo Higuain: The former striker of Real Madrid, Chelsea Juventus, among others, ended his career at “only” 34 years old, playing his last two seasons with Inter Miami, a club he joined in 2020 along with Matuidi. “Pipita” argued that his decision was mainly a matter of spending more time with his family.
Marcel Schmelzer: One of the one-club-man remaining in world football, the German officially retired in 2022, but his last match as a professional was in 2020 and due to a serious knee injury he was unable to return to the pitch. Schmelzer spent his entire career with Borussia Dortmund, playing 367 games in the process.
Aleksandar Kolarov: He is mostly remembered for his time at Manchester City where he spent 7 years, although he also spent a large part of his career in Italy, first at Lazio, then at AS Roma, and finally at Inter Milan where he retired having had little participation during the two-year term of his contract. Currently, he is preparing to be a director of football.
Jefferson Farfán: With an extensive career in which he covered several countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, and Russia, the Peruvian retired at the age of 38 at the club where he was formed and of which he is a fan, Alianza Lima, where he became champion in 2022.
Shunsuke Nakamura: The 44-year-old Japanese ended his long career after earning promotion to the J-League with his club, Yokohama FC, with whom he was certainly not having much involvement. Nakamura played in Italy, Scotland, and Spain as well as in his country.
Laurent Koscielny: The former Arsenal defender spent his last 3 years as a professional football player at Girondins de Bordeaux, with whom he was relegated in 2022 after many problems around the institution (both sporting and financial) and the player himself, who lost a lot of prominence in his last year in addition to receiving very strong criticism from his own fans.
Thomas Vermaelen: After the end of his contract with Vissel Kobe in Japan, the Belgian defender decided to retire from football at the age of 36 to immediately join Roberto Martínez’s staff in the Belgium national team where he works as an assistant coach.
Carlos Tevez: Despite considering himself in good physical condition at 38, the “Apache” decided to retire in 2022 despite not having played since 2021 when he left Boca Juniors for not feeling mentally focused on football after his father’s death. In mid-2022, he began his coaching career at Rosario Central, although he left office at the end of the year because the club was going to enter an electoral process and Tevez wanted to give the winning president freedom to choose the manager of his choice.
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