Famous football players who hung up their boots in 2022

Laurent Koscielny

Koscielny made a name for himself at Arsenal, where he captained the team, despite starting with a suspension in his first game for the Gunners. Won 5 trophies with the club – FA Cups and League Cups. He didn’t play in the national team until he was 26 and wasn’t even called up to the youth team. But Wenger saw potential in him and signed in Lorient in 2010. After 9 years in England, he played 3 years in Bordeaux.

JERMAINE DEFO

Defoe retired at 39, playing for Portsmouth, Bournemouth, Rangers, Sunderland, Toronto, West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur, scoring 305 goals in 762 total games. In Scotland he was a game coach. He also has 20 goals for England.

ALEXANDER KOLAROV

Serbian defender Kolarov excelled at Lazio and was then noticed by Manchester City, with whom he won 6 titles, including two in the Premier League. Then there was a return to Italy – Roma and Inter, with whom the Serb won Serie A in 2021.

BRAND NOBL

Mark Noble has spent his entire career (18 years) in the same club West Ham, if we do not take into account two leases in order to acquire playing practice in his youth. As a result, the midfielder has become a Hammers legend, having played 550 games for the club. In the Premier League, he has the most appearances of any player at the club, and in the entire history of West Ham he is the sixth indicator.

RODRIGO PALACIO

Rodrigo Palacio made a name for himself in Italy playing for Genoa, Inter, Bologna and Brescia. But at the same time, he won all his titles in his career in Argentina, where he played for Boca Juniors. With the Argentina national team, he took second place in the 2022 World Cup. After finishing his football career, he decided to try his hand at basketball.

ADEBAYO AKINFENWA

Akinfenwa played in the lower divisions of England but still managed to make a big name for himself. The tall striker with a weight of 108 kg was named the strongest football player on the planet. At the age of 40, he quit acting and switched to wrestling.

JACK WILSHEAR

Wilshere ended his career at 30, although he went on hiatus at 28. He was considered one of England’s most gifted players, but constant injuries ruined his career. After leaving West Ham in 2020 and a long hiatus, he tried to revive his career at Bournemouth and even Denmark’s Aarhus, but then decided not to torture himself and moved on to coaching.

HOLGER BADSH TUBER

Badstuber managed to win 17 trophies – all at Bayern, but did not reveal his potential due to frequent injuries – 22 in his entire career, and very serious ones. In total, he cut 1305 days (3.5 years) from his football career. At 33, he ended his career in the Swiss Lucerne.

FRANCK RIBERY

The most established player who retired in 2022. Ribéry was one of the best players in the world, shone at Bayern and became the most successful foreign player in the history of the Bundesliga (9 league titles ). Then his feat was repeated by Javi Martinez and surpassed by David Alaba and Robert Lewandowski. In 2013, he became the third in the world to vote for the Ballon d’Or. After the Bundesliga, Ribery tried his hand at Fiorentina and Salernitana, but injuries became more common with age, and now the French winger has a coaching job at the same Salernitana.

ARDA TOURAN

Turan was perfect for Atlético’s style, but he made a fatal mistake when he moved to Barcelona. Moreover, he wasn’t bothered by the fact that the Catalans weren’t allowed to register players and he just sat without training but was listed at Barca. Even after being announced, Turan just disappeared into the club and wasn’t called back by anything. The career was ruined, Arda never revived it.

JEAN OBIE MICHEL

Won 11 trophies at Chelsea, including Premier League, Champions League and UEL. José Mourinho liked him very much. Then the Nigerian went to work in China after which he returned to Europe and managed to play for Middlesbrough, Stoke City, Trabzonspor and Al Kuwait became his last club.

GERARD PIQUE

Pique’s status can be compared to that of Ribery, Gerard was the main player for Barcelona and the Spanish national team. And even now he could play in any middle peasant from the Examples, but as a result, at the end of the year he unexpectedly ended his career, although there was no a hint of scandal. Pique can now focus on his business empire and could become Barcelona president in the future.

GONSALO HIGUAIN

Higuain scored 335 goals at club level and also scored 31 goals for the Argentina national team. Won 14 trophies at Real Madrid, Napoli, Juventus and Chelsea, but will be remembered by everyone for his fantastic misses, including the 2010 World Cup final which cost him a trophy Argentina. After the career “Napoli” deteriorated. Transfers to Juventus, Milan and Chelsea were considered unsuccessful. I’m done playing Higuain in MLS.

BLAZE MATUIDI

Matuidi and Higuain played a lot together, and at American Inter they had every chance to raise the team to a new level, but the Frenchman did not support the initiative of the Argentinian striker, who scored 29 goals in MLS in 2 years. In 2022, Matuidi hasn’t played a single game, but not because of an injury, just because of poor form. It is quite expected that after the completion of the contract, he announces his departure.

GARY CAHILL

7 years at Chelsea and 7 trophies – 2 Premier League titles, 2 FA Cups, 2 Europa Leagues and 1 Champions League. Cahill was not a model of reliability, but at the same time he played for the “aristocrats” almost 300 matches, as well as 61 for England. After Chelsea, he played for Crystal Palace and Bournemouth.

RAMIREZ

The Brazilian played for Chelsea for 6 years and won 5 trophies, but at the age of 29 he unexpectedly left for China to work. He spent 3 years there, gained a comfortable old age.

GORAN PANDEV

The best player in the history of North Macedonia. Goran Pandev, thanks to the Nations League and the new selection formula for the European Championship, managed to qualify for the continental championship and fulfilled his dream. And it is symbolic that it was he who became the first player in the history of North Macedonia to score at the Euro. His team lost all three matches, but the player made history, and the participation itself was akin to victory. After that, Pandev ended his career in the national team and no longer participated in the selection for the 22nd World Cup, where the Macedonians eliminated Italy, the country in which Pandev played for almost 20 years. and made a name for himself at Lazio. , Inter and Napoli.

ANDREA RANOCCHIA

Ranocchia played 11 years at Inter, made 226 appearances and won 4 trophies. But at the same time, it should be noted that for 7 years it has been mostly in reserve. In the summer he moved to Monza, but he did not play there either, on his own only 1 game. After 3 months, he terminated the contract with Monza and decided to put an end to his career.

BRUNO ALVES

The Portuguese defender played 3 years in Russia for Zenit, on his account exactly 100 matches for the club. Two time gold medalists. After Zenit he played for Fenerbahce, Cagliari, Rangers, Parma, Famalicao, Apollo. He played 96 games for the Portuguese national team, won Euro 2016. After finishing his career, he became the sports director of Greek AEK.