Official: Barcelona legend Sergio Busquets announces retirement at the end of MLS season | OneFootball

It is official: Sergio Busquets, midfielder for Inter Miami and one of the icons of Barcelona’s greatest ever era, announced on Thursday that he will retire from professional football at the end of the present Major League Soccer campaign.

The 37-year-old, who joined Barça’s first team in 2008 under Pep Guardiola at the age of 20, became a key figure in a generation led by Lionel Messi that dominated world football.

World Cup winner with Spain in 2010, Busquets made the announcement in a video shared on social media. He said:

“These will be my last months on the pitch. I retire very happy, proud, fulfilled and above all grateful.”

The midfielder added: “I feel that the moment has come to say goodbye to my career as a professional footballer. It has been almost 20 years enjoying this incredible story that I always dreamed of.”

He leaves grateful to the game that gave him “unique experiences, in wonderful places, alongside the best teammates on the journey.”

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Busquets also paid tribute to Barcelona during his retirement announcement, saying:

“Thank you to Football Club Barcelona, the club of my life. There I fulfilled the dreams I had as a child, wore the shirt I loved in hundreds of matches, celebrated many titles and lived unforgettable moments at the Camp Nou.”

“A heartfelt thank you to everyone, and to football, for everything. You will always be a part of this beautiful story,” he captioned the video post on his social media.

Busquets will soon join his former midfield partners-in-crime, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta, in retirement. He will end his career playing, as he once did at Barça, alongside Lionel Messi, Jordi Alba and Luis Suárez at Inter Miami.

During his time at Barcelona, Busquets won: 3 Champions Leagues, 9 La Liga titles, 7 Copa del Rey trophies, 7 Spanish Super Cups, 3 FIFA Club World Cups, and 3 UEFA Super Cups.

With the Spanish national team, for whom he earned 143 caps, Busquets lifted the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 European Championship. His departure from Barcelona came in 2023, following which he signed for Inter Miami.