Chelsea Icon Retires from the Game
Ex-Chelsea Captain and lifelong Spanish international Cesar Azpilicueta has decided to hang up his boots after a celebrated career of 20 seasons, and has announced his retirement from football by writing an emotional social media post.
“Dear football. Today I want to tell you that this season has been my last as a professional footballer,” he wrote on Instagram. “After 20 years I have lived my dream of playing football and I believe that it is time for a new chapter in my life.”
Azpilicueta first burst onto the scene at hometown Osasuna before joining two French clubs, Marseille (two years), where he went on to lift two League Cups and two French Super Cups during his time in France.
He moved to Chelsea in 2012 where he spent 11 seasons and etched his name into their history, as he became an integral part of the team during the most successful spell in the club’s history. The ex-Spanish international played a whopping 508 times for the Stamford Bridge club, where he won two Premier Leagues, one FA Cup, a League Cup and two Europa Leagues, before winning club football’s biggest prize — the Champions League in 2021 — where he captained the team to glory.
The former captain went on to represent his country on 44 occasions, where he carried on the high standards he set at his club.
In the twilight of his career, he moved back to his native Spain where he signed for Atletico Madrid in 2023 (two years), before transferring to Sevilla last summer. He made 16 appearances in La Liga for the Andalusia side during the current season, before deciding to hang up his boots.
