LAST UPDATE | 15 Jul
GERMANY FORWARD THOMAS Müller said Monday he was retiring from international football after a disappointing Euro 2024 in which the host nation were eliminated in the quarter-finals.
“After 131 national team games and 45 goals, I am saying goodbye,” Müller said in a video statement announcing his decision.
Müller, who turns 35 in September, was a key member of the German team that won the 2014 World Cup.
The charismatic forward also scored the opening goal in Germany’s unforgettable 7-1 win over the hosts Brazil in the semi final.
“When I played my first international match for the German national team over 14 years ago, I could never have dreamed of all this,” Müller said in the video.
“It always made me very proud to play for my country. We celebrated together and sometimes shed a tear together,” he said.
A tearful Müller had hinted at retirement following Germany’s exit from Euro 2024.
The tournament hosts lost 2-1 in the quarter-final to Spain, who went on to lift the trophy on Sunday against England.
After the Spain game, Müller said he would hold talks with national team coach Julian Nagelsmann and decide whether it was the “sensible option” to step aside in favour of younger players.
Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is the only member of Germany’s 2014 World Cup-winning side still involved in the national team set up.
Germany and Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos announced before Euro 2024 that he would retire from football after the tournament.
Unlike Kroos, Müller will continue to play for his club Bayern Munich, where he is under contract until 2025.
Only Lothar Matthaeus and Miroslav Klose have played more games for Germany than Mueller, who is also Germany’s sixth highest goalscorer of all time.
Later on Monday, France’s Olivier Giroud and Switzerland’s Xherdan Shaqiri confirmed their international retirements.
France’s all-time leading goalscorer Giroud called time on a career that saw him score 57 goals in 137 appearances.
“The long-dreaded moment has arrived: the moment of saying goodbye to the French national team,” Giroud wrote on Instagram.
“We’ve become an inseparable band of mates under the watchful eye of one man: the coach, Didier Deschamps, whom I thank for his trust. Despite our ups and downs, he has enabled me to become Les Bleus’ all-time top scorer.”
“The France team I served for 13 years will always be engraved in my heart. It is my greatest pride and my fondest memory,” added the 37-year-old.
Over the course of his international career, Giroud won the World Cup in 2018 and was also a World Cup and European Championship runner-up.
The striker had said in May that Euro 2024 would be his last major international tournament. He made four appearances from the bench as France reached the semi-finals where they lost to eventual winners Spain.
The former Arsenal, Chelsea and AC Milan striker will join Major League Soccer outfit Los Angeles FC next season.
Shaqiri announced bows out of from international football after winning 125 Switzerland caps and becoming the only player to score in each of the last three World Cups and European Championships.
Midfielder Shaqiri, 32, who now plays with Chicago Fire in the United States, is Switzerland’s second most-capped player after team-mate Granit Xhaka on 130 caps.
The former Bayern Munich and Liverpool winger made his international debut in March 2010 aged 18. He represented his country at four World Cups and three European Championships.
In what was his last game for the Nati, Shaqiri scored in the shoot-out as England beat Switzerland 5-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw in their Euro 2024 quarter-final in Duesseldorf on 6 July.
“Seven tournaments, many goals, 14 years with the Swiss national team and unforgettable moments. It’s time to say goodbye to the national team. Great memories remain and I say to you all: thank you!”, he said on social media.
