Luis Suárez announces retirement from Uruguay national team

Luis Suárez announced that he will retire from the Uruguayan national team after this FIFA date. The announcement was made at a press conference held in the press room of the Centenario stadium in Montevideo.

Suárez was first called up to the national team in 2007, and was called up for 17 years. In total, he played 142 games and scored 69 goals.

Rumors of his departure from the national team emerged after a joint post on social media by the Uruguayan national team and player accounts.

Suárez experienced remarkable moments in the national team

The farewell match will be against Paraguay in the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, and will be played in the same stadium. The match was the same as in 2011, when “Pistolero” scored one of the goals in winning the Copa América when they won the final 3-0.

A year earlier, in 2010, in the campaign that resulted in a fourth-place finish at the World Cup in South Africa, Suárez scored goals but his defining moment came in the quarter-finals against Ghana when he made a penalty save on the goal line, preventing the African team from scoring a goal that would have qualified the African team, who had missed a penalty taken by Asamoah Gyan.

Another episode that fans will never forget was the striker's participation in the 2014 World Cup, where he eliminated England by scoring two goals in an epic 2-1 victory in the group stage after recovering from a serious knee injury. In the same World Cup, he bit defender Chiellini in the match against Italy, where he was later punished with a five-game absence from the national team.

In Brazil, he was successful with Grêmio

After having played for giant European clubs such as Ajax, Liverpool and Barcelona and without space at Atlético de Madrid, “Pistolero” surprised the world when he was announced by Grêmio in January 2023.

_{Luis Suárez after scoring one of his 3 goals in Grêmio's 4-3 victory over Botafogo. (Photo: Alexandre Durão / Grêmio FBPA)}

Staying only in the 2023 season, he won the Campeonato Gaúcho for the tricolor and was a crucial part in the Brazilian runner-up campaign that gave the club a place in the current Libertadores, where they were eliminated by Fluminense in the round of 16 without the Uruguayan.

For the Tricolor Gaúcho, Suárez played 53 games and scored 26 goals and said goodbye after the 3×2 victory against Fluminense where he scored two great goals, including a penalty kick.

Featured Photo: Luis Suarez defending Uruguay (Reproduction: Wesley Santos/Agência PressDigital)