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International football will miss them: Best XI who retired in 2024
Reading Time: 2min | Wed. 01.01.25. | 13:48
Each year, some international football heroes retire from their national teams, and the 2024 was not an exception
During the year behind us, football brought numerous excitements - Real Madrid won the Champions League for the 15th time, Atalanta and Olympiacos won their maiden European trophies (the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League, respectively), while Spain confirmed their dominance by winning both the Olympic Gold medal and the EURO 2024.
However, numerous international football heroes retired from their national teams - some of them hang up their boots in general - and the "Best XI" team composed only of them definitely evokes nostalgia.
At first glance, Germany lost the most, as Die Mannschaft lost four immensely valuable and experienced players: Toni Kroos, Ilkay Gundogan, Manuel Neuer, and Thomas Muller. And while the latter three continued their spells with Man City and Bayern Munich, Kroos called it a day, ending his fruitful career.
Spain will miss Thiago Alcantara, who decided that the spell with Liverpool would be his last, and Jesus Navas, who just recently played his ultimate game at his beloved Sevilla, though he retired as a European Champion with La Furia and the oldest Spanish player to feature in a major tournament.
An elite XI of players ALL retired from international football in 2024 💔🥹 pic.twitter.com/ed0pnbUSCJ
— OneFootball (@OneFootball) November 16, 2024
Jan Vertonghen continued captaining his homeland's Anderlecht but said goodbye to Belgium, while Daley Blind won't represent the Netherlands anymore, though he found his luck at Girona. The Portuguese legend Pepe said farewell to the Navigators' jersey in tears after the EURO 2024 elimination from France and, at the same time, brought down the curtain on his immensely successful career after a five-year spell with Porto.
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Finally, South American football will be deprived of the magic of the Continental and World Champion, Argentina's Angel Di Maria, although his performances with Benfica prove that he could have given much more to international football, and the Uruguayan Edinson Cavani, who is still striking fear in custodians' bones at the Argentinian Boca Juniors.
