Szczęsny announced his retirement. Who else from the legends of football gave up football over the past year

The new season has barely begun, and we already have our first retirement - Wojciech Szczęsny announced that his time with Juventus and football in general is over. After an incredible period, he decided to call it quits and plunge into other pursuits. Before the start of a new active phase of European football, OBOZ.UA recalls the best players who decided to hang up their boots over the past year.

The stars of their time, who pushed other goalkeepers

The 37-year-old English goalkeeper Joe Hart ended his professional career this season at Celtic. Before that, he had a path that many top-level goalkeepers would envy. Hart was one of the founders of the City we know today. In the Citizens' off-prime years, he won the Golden Glove several times and then helped to take the legendary championship with Aguero and company. Joe had his own problems - he could get carried away and deliver. But the number of stunning saves he made outweighs this feature of the goalkeeper. The other day he returned to City and met another legend.

Buffon and his incredible career are worthy of more than one movie. The Italian seemed to be an eternal player who would never finish. The noughties (and then the tens) were strongly associated with reliability, and in combination with other field players, Gianluigi was capable of real feats. He won two dozen cups with Juventus, but never won the Champions League. He made many attempts to save Parma, but was injured in the decisive match. Until the last minutes on the field, Buffon proved to be a hardworking goalkeeper and really worked every moment, even despite his respectable age. A career worthy of a full-length movie from Scorsese.

Well, this week Wojciech Szczęsny was added to these two legends. After playing for Juventus for 7 years, he finished his career in the Polish national team and now in the Italian club. Although the story here is not so beautiful and tearful: the Turks literally showed the goalkeeper the door because he was not part of their future plans. The Pole did not want to go to the Saudis and announced his retirement. In 548 matches, he played as many as 210 games dry.

Two legendary center backs retired in the same year

Chiellini and Bonucci. What do you remember when you hear these two names? The greatness of Italy, reliability in defense, synchronized defensive actions? Yes, exactly that. And that's why both players decided to end their careers in the same way - they made such decisions in the same season. Chiellini finished his career in MLS, but he calls Juventus the most exciting journey of his life. Almost all of his career, as well as episodes of player and personality development, took place there. Giorgio collected a lot of cups there, and the quintessence was winning Euro 2020. Chiellini is the third Juve player in terms of the number of matches played, behind the aforementioned Buffon and Del Piero.

It was impossible to imagine anyone else but Bonucci paired with him. The former Italy international ended his football career in the spring, playing for Fenerbahce. At 37, he decided it was time to give way to the young. Leonardo is known for his ten-year era at Juventus, and for Italy (120 appearances) he received not only a champion's medal but also the status of the best player of the final. On his Instagram, Bonucci wrote about the end of games in football as follows:

The greatness of these two has been repeatedly recognized by both fans and authoritative sports publications. A few years ago, Schweinsteiger said that Bonucci and Chiellini were the best central defenders in the world.

The center of the field has become quite sad

The undisputed king of the center of the field, the legendary Real Madrid player and one of the most influential players in Germany is Toni Kroos. He officially retired after the national team's defeat by Spain in the Euro quarterfinals, and in the spring he said that he would no longer play for any club at all. This is the case when a great career is completed at the right time, at the very top. Having shone in Bayern, the midfielder won 3 championships and cups there, but he was waiting for the maximum disclosure. And it happened in Madrid. A fantastic infusion into the role of playmaker and the main element of communication between defense and attack allowed Real Madrid to loudly declare that they have the best player in the world. The most intelligent, yes: graceful passes multiplied by a timely cutback pass or a powerful shot from distance brought the creamy 4 La Liga victories, four Super Cups and countless CL extravaganzas - Kroos has contributed to 6 (!) of these cups for the team's museum. His statement "I want to leave at my peak, not when the coaches start wondering if I should be on the field" came true: Tony will be remembered as one of the most decorated footballers in history.

Another center back, whose talent was no less bright, but who failed to achieve greatness, ended his career. Thiago Alcantara had a very specific career, filled with numerous cups and numerous... injuries. But he is remembered as a player who got into the best football at the worst possible time. He was a good center back, overshadowed by other greats. And then there was his last season at Liverpool - a nine-month recovery with 12 minutes on the field, after which a new injury occurred. Thiago got tired of it and called it quits. We won't see Alcantara as a coach or as a football manager anymore - he wants to try something new, and it took him a month at Flick's headquarters to realize that. Well, at 33, the Spaniard has plenty of time to experiment.

The attack has someone to remember

Not many star strikers have left this year, and the extravaganza of the tireless Messi and Ronaldo continues. That's why we should mention Raul Garcia, the legendary Atletico Madrid representative and no less odious Atletico player. The era of the Matzos and Basques totaled 17 years of his 20-year career. During this time, he didn't really start with goals, and his most beautiful one came against Barcelona in 2010. He was more of a foundation on the field, which brought Madrid the Europa League and several domestic cups, as well as the Spanish Super Cup to Athletic. Interestingly, we already have a legend being born - another Raul Garcia is growing up in the same Osasuna, who became the main man in the team last season. Will he be able to repeat the same career?