Suarez Announces Retirement From International Football

Uruguay striker Luis Suarez has announced his retirement from international at the age of 37.

Suarez, who made the announcement through tears, said his final game with Uruguay will be the 2026 World Cup qualifying game against Paraguay on Friday.

“I’ve been thinking about this and analyzing this. I believe this is the right time,” Suarez said on Monday.

“I want to be relaxed when I play my last game with the national team. I’ll be just as excited to play as I was in 2007 when I played for my national team for the first time. That 19-year old kid is now a veteran player, an older player — however you want to call it — with an incredible history with the national team will give his life for the team on Friday.”

Suarez is Uruguay’s all-time top scorer with 69 goals in 142 appearances across an international career spanning 14 years.

The former Liverpool, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid striker last played for his country in the 2024 Copa America third-place play-off against Canada in July.

Suarez scored a 92nd-minute equalizer and successfully dispatched his penalty in the shootout as Uruguay secured a third-place finish. He was not on the game-day roster in Uruguay’s 1-1 draw against Guatemala in a friendly on Sunday.

He featured for his country at nine major tournaments and was part of their 2011 Copa America-winning side, scoring four goal at the tournament, including twice in the semi-finals and once in the final, and was named Player of the Tournament as Uruguay won the competition for a 15th time and the first since 1995.

Suarez made his senior Uruguay debut against Colombia in February 2007 and was sent off in the latter stages of the game after receiving two yellow cards.
He went to his first World Cup in 2010 and scored three goals in six appearances, including both goals in Uruguay’s 2-1 victory over South Korea in the round of 16.

He was sent off in the quarter-finals against Ghana after deliberately blocking Dominic Adiyiah’s goal-bound effort with his hand in the final minute of extra time, preventing a goal that would likely have eliminated his side.