Gareth Bale: Former Real Madrid, Tottenham and Wales star announces ‘immediate retirement’ from football

Gareth Bale has announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 33.

The former Real Madrid, Tottenham, Southampton and Wales star, who joined Los Angeles FC in the summer of 2022, published a statement on social media explaining his decision.

“After careful and thoughtful consideration, I announce my immediate retirement from club and international football,” he wrote.

“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.”

Bale’s decision comes just a month after he captained Wales at their first World Cup in 64 years.

He is Wales’ all-time leading appearance maker with 111 caps and also their leading scorer with 41 goals.

“My decision to retire from international football has been, by far the hardest of my career,” he wrote.

“My journey on the international stage is one that has changed not only my life but who I am.

“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 honoured 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 came through Southampton’s academy and made his first-team debut at the age of 16.

His move to Tottenham in 2007 didn’t initially go to plan as he went winless in his first 24 Premier League games.

However, Bale’s form improved and in 2010 he memorably

.

He continued to develop into one of the most exciting talents in Europe and won several individual awards after a stunning 2012/13 season that saw him score 21 Premier League goals for Spurs.

Bale’s form earned him a move to Real Madrid that summer for a world-record fee of €100.8m (£85.1m).

He shone in Madrid alongside Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo, scoring 106 goals in 258 appearances and winning the Champions League five times and La Liga three times.

He scored a stunning overhead kick in the 2018 Champions League final against Liverpool and also netted in the 2014 final against Atletico Madrid.

Another of his highlights from his time in Madrid was a brilliant solo goal against Barcelona that won the Copa del Rey in 2014.

Injuries led to Bale falling out of favour in the Spanish capital and fans started to turn on him.

He returned to Spurs in 2020 on a loan move before finally leaving Madrid to join LAFC last summer.

He was an inspirational figure at international level, leading Wales to the semi-finals at 2016 and qualification in 2020, before playing a key role in securing a spot at the 2022 World Cup.