France World Cup winner Blaise Matuidi retires from football

France World Cup winner Blaise Matuidi announced his retirement from soccer.
The 35-year-old Matuidi won the World Cup in 2018 and made the last of his 84 appearances for Les Bleus three years ago.

Football, je t’ai tant aimé. Football, tu m’as tant donné, mais le moment est venu de dire stop. J’ai accompli mes rêves d’enfant, mes rêves d’homme. C’est la gorge serrée mais avec fierté que je tourne aujourd’hui cette page.MERCI ❤️ 👉🏾 https://t.co/j9S9b7QaiD pic.twitter.com/rkDwnxX9Tj
— Blaise Matuidi (@MATUIDIBlaise) December 23, 2022
“Football, I loved you so much. Football, you gave me so much, but the time has come to say stop,” Matuidi wrote on Twitter.
“I’ve achieved my dreams as a child, as a man. It’s with a lump in my throat that I’m turning the page now.”
A tough ball-winner with great stamina and good passing skills, the midfielder also had an eye for goal when he pushed forward. He won four French league titles with Paris Saint-Germain and three straight in Italy with Juventus.
After playing two seasons in Major League Soccer with Inter Miami, he was without a club this year.

Matuidi played for Troyes and Saint-Etienne before joining PSG in 2011.
He scored 33 goals in 295 games for PSG and was twice voted into the French league’s team of the season.