Iker Casillas has retired from professional football at age 39. The goalkeeper won 167 caps for the Spanish national side, winning back-to-back European Championships in 2008 and 2012. In between those successes, he also lifted the World Cup in 2010.
Casillas also enjoyed a trophy-laden career in club football. He is renowned for his 16-year career with Real Madrid, where he won five La Liga titles and three Champions League crowns.
Iker Casillas Retires From Football
Casillas leaves Real Madrid legacy
Club legend Casillas represented Real Madrid from 1999 to 2015. The Spanish giants proudly declare the player to be “The best goalkeeper in our history”.
Casillas graduated from the club’s academy, having joined the youth setup aged nine. He made his senior debut with the first team in September 1999 and went on to make 725 appearances for Los Blancos. In that time, he won 19 trophies in the Spanish capital.
It might have been even more had the player not fallen out with Jose Mourinho during the Portuguese manager’s time in charge at the club.
Mourinho dropped Casillas in favour of backup goalkeeper Adan in December 2013 and signed Diego Lopez the following January. In July 2015, Casillas moved to Porto, where he remained until his retirement this year.
More Successes in Portugal
Whilst playing for Porto, Casillas won two league titles, one domestic cup, and one Super Cup to add to his haul of trophies collected elsewhere.
During his time in Portugal, the goalkeeper broke the records for the most consecutive seasons played in the Champions League (20), and the most appearances made by a player in the competition (177).
Casillas played 186 times for Porto, bringing his total number of club appearances to 881.
Spanish Football Hero
Casillas will be remembered as a hero for the Spain national team. He made the second-most appearances for his country and played in three consecutive major tournament victories.
His finest hour arguably came in the 2010 World Cup final. Spain won the competition with a 1-0 victory over the Netherlands.
Andres Iniesta scored the winning goal four minutes before the end of stoppage time. Before that, Casillas had denied Arjen Robben from perhaps winning football’s biggest trophy for the Dutch with a save to deny his former club team-mate, who was through on goal.
Retirement announcement
In May 2019, Casillas suffered a heart attack whilst training with Porto. He proved the football world wrong by returning to training with his club after retirement rumours had surfaced, but now really is the time for the man regarded by many as the game’s greatest-ever goalkeeper to hang up his gloves.
Announcing his retirement decision on Twitter, Casillas stated: “The most important thing is the path you travel and the people who accompany you, and not the destination to which it takes you.
“I think I can say, without hesitation, that it has been the path and the dream destination.”
Main Photo
