Paris Saint-Germain’s French defender Sergio Ramos, former captain of the Spanish national football team, announced on Thursday that he will retire from international football at the age of thirty-six after new coach Luis de la Fuente informed him. That he would not be in his plans.

Ramos, who won 180 international caps, said he was retiring from international football with a “heavy heart” and wanted to retire “with less bitterness”.

“It is time to say goodbye to the Spanish national team,” Ramos wrote in a statement published in Spanish and English on social networks.

He explained, “This morning (Thursday), I received a call from the current coach who informed me that he is no longer part of his plans and that I will not be part of them regardless of my positions or what I do. Football career.”

Ramos, who made his international debut in a friendly against China in 2005 and was one of the pillars of the Spanish national team, dominated world football for eight years, winning the 2008 European Cup, the 2010 World Cup and an unprecedented back-to-back. Cup, and the 2012 European Cup.

And he continued, “Despite the successes we’ve had with La Roja, it’s the end of a journey that I hoped would have ended, with a heavy heart, longer and less bitter.”

The former Real Madrid captain has scored 23 goals in 180 international matches. His last international match was against Kosovo in Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifiers in March 2021.

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