Suarez announces retirement from international football

Uruguayan icon Luis Suarez announced his retirement from international football on Monday, confirming he would hang up his boots after Friday’s 2026 World Cup qualifier against Paraguay in Montevideo.

“Friday will be my last game for my country,” an emotional Suarez, 37, told a news conference.

“It was not an easy decision to make, but I do it with the peace of mind of knowing that I will give my all until the very last match of my career (in Uruguay).”

The former Barcelona and Liverpool forward is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation and will retire from international duty as Uruguay’s record scorer with 69 goals in 142 appearances, AFP reports.

Suarez, who was infamously sent off from the 2014 World Cup after being banned for four months for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini, made his debut for Uruguay in 2007.

The Inter Miami forward helped Uruguay win the 2011 Copa America, where he was named player of the tournament, and would go on to represent the South American country in nine major tournaments.

Suarez said on Monday that inspiring Uruguay to the Copa crown had been the highlight of his career.

“I wouldn’t trade the Copa America for anything in the world,” he said. “It was the best moment of my career. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.”

A dynamic and skilful striker with a deadly eye for goal, Suarez has never been far from controversy.

As well as the biting incident that ended his participation at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, he was also one of the villains of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, when his cynical handball on the goal line denied Ghana what would have been a winning goal late in the quarter-final.

Suarez was sent off for the offence and Ghana then missed the ensuing penalty, allowing Uruguay to sneak into the semi-finals after a penalty shootout.

Controversy has also dogged Suarez throughout his club career, most notably in 2011 when he was banned for eight games by English authorities for allegedly racially abusing Manchester United’s French star Patrice Evra.

Suarez went on to help Uruguay qualify for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, and also featured at this summer’s Copa America, where he was used mainly as a substitute by coach Marcelo Bielsa. He scored his 69th international goal in a third-place play-off win over Canada.