Iniesta, 40, teases retirement in tearful video

Former Barcelona midfielder Andrés Iniesta has teased his retirement from football at the age of 40 in a video posted to his social media channels.

The video, captioned with the phrase “the game will go on,” shows Iniesta emotionally discussing what football means to him, before tributes are paid by a number of prominent names including Pep Guardiola, Louis van Gaal and Luis Enrique.

Iniesta was most recently playing for UAE Pro League club Emirates, where he had an option to extend his contract until 2025, but it appears he has decided to call time on his playing career.

He famously scored the winning goal in the 2010 World Cup final as Spain lifted the trophy for the first and only time in the country’s history, while he made almost 900 club appearances across spells with Barça, Vissel Kobe and Emirates.

After joining Barça’s academy aged 12 in 1996, initially living at La Masia, Iniesta went on to make 54 appearances for the club’s B team before breaking into the senior side in 2002.

During a storied era for the club, playing alongside the likes of Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernández and Lionel Messi, Iniesta helped form the spine of a team that won numerous Champions Leagues and LaLiga titles.

He eventually left Barça in 2018 after making almost 700 appearances and winning nine LaLiga titles and four Champions Leagues among the 32 trophies he won with the club.

At international level, he won 131 caps for Spain and was a key part of the La Roja side that won back-to-back European Championships and the World Cup between 2008 and 2012.

Perhaps the most famous moment of his career arrived in South Africa in 2010, when he struck the only goal in the final as Spain beat Netherlands 1-0 to be crowned world champions.

After leaving Barça and retiring from international football, Iniesta went on to spend five years in Japan with Vissel Kobe, winning the J1 League in 2023, before winding down his career at Emirates.