Gareth Bale, Wales’ all-time leading men’s goalscorer and five-time Champions League winner with Real Madrid, has announced his retirement from football. Bale, one of Britain’s most decorated players, has walked away from the game midway through his contract with Los Angeles FC, which was due to expire this summer.
Bale’s decision comes just over a month after he vowed to continue playing following Wales’ disappointing group stage exit in their first World Cup finals for 64 years. Bale captained Wales in his first appearance at a World Cup final.
“My decision to retire from international football has been by far the most difficult of my career,” Bale said. “My journey on the international stage has changed not only my life, but who I am.”
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Bale started out at Southampton, making his debut aged 16, and spent six years at Tottenham before joining Madrid in 2013 for a world record £85million. Until November, he had indicated he would play at least until the end of Wales’ qualifying campaign for Euro 2024. Bale scored 41 goals in 111 international matches.
In a separate statement on social media, Bale said: “After careful and thoughtful consideration, I am announcing my immediate retirement from international and club football.
“I feel incredibly fortunate to have achieved my dream of playing the sport I love. It has truly given me some of the greatest moments of my life. The greatest of all for 17 seasons that will be impossible to replicate regardless of what the next chapter holds for me.”
It means Bale’s last game was the 3-0 defeat to England in Qatar in November, in which he was substituted at half-time. Afterwards Rob Page, the Wales manager, was confident that Bale would keep his word. “I don’t think it will be the last time you see Gareth in a Wales shirt,” Page said.
Gareth Bale scores for Real Madrid with an overhead kick against Liverpool in the 2018 Champions League final. Picture: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
Arguably Bale’s biggest moment came on club football’s biggest stage, with his stunning free-kick against Liverpool in the 2018 Champions League final, the first of his two goals in Kyiv, which influenced the victory. His winning goal against Barcelona in the 2014 Copa del Rey final was a similar accolade. Bale took the ball on the halfway line before leaving the pitch and raced past Marc Bartra, who had equalised, before returning to the pitch to score the winner.
His sensational brace for Wales against Austria in the World Cup semi-final in Cardiff last March was also instrumental in his country’s run to the World Cup final. “I’m taking a step back, but not away from the team that lives inside me and runs through my veins,” Bale said. “After all, the dragon on my shirt is all I need.”
“Thank you @GarethBale11 for everything you have given to Welsh football,” said Football Association of Wales chief executive Noel Mooney. “Simply the best.”
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In November 2021, Bale won his 100th cap for Wales at home to Belarus, three years after eclipsing Ian Rush’s goalscoring record with a hat-trick in China. His last goal for his country was a penalty against the USA in Qatar in November and his last domestic goal was, fittingly, a 128th minute header to help LAFC win the Major Cup League Soccer earlier that month.
Bale scored 81 goals in 176 games for Madrid, but the latter part of his nine-year spell was interrupted by controversy and injuries. Bale came under fire in Spain for celebrating Wales’ qualification for Euro 2020 by prancing around with a flag that read: “Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order.”
During the World Cup, Bale, who owns two golf clubs and is thought to play off zero, was asked about his love for the game. “Mentally it’s always been a place to get away from the pressure of football and the intensity of life,” he said. “It’s a nice escape from the hectic life of a professional footballer.”
Bale is honored with a mural in Whitchurch, north Cardiff, where he grew up with his parents, Frank and Debbie, and his sister, Vicky. “Without your dedication in those early days, without such a solid foundation, I wouldn’t be writing this statement right now,” Bale said. “A time of change and transition, an opportunity for a new adventure.”