Former Real Madrid and Wales forward Gareth Bale shocked football faithful by announcing his retirement from football on Monday.
Bale, 33, represented his native Wales for 119 times and won several trophies most notably at Real Madrid where he won the Spanish La Liga and the UEFA Champions League.
Bale won three league titles with the Les Merengues and the Champions League an incredible five times, making him one of the most decorated British players in history.
Bale has been the talisman of the Welsh national team in recent years and helped them reach the quarter-finals of EURO 2016 and guided them to only their second-ever World Cup appearance at the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
Despite being one of the most influential players at the club from his on-field performances, Bale was not a fan favourite at the Santiago Bernabeau.
In a statement posted on Twitter about retiring from both club and international football, Bale said: “From my very first touch at Southampton to my last with LAFC and everything in between, shaped a club career that I have an immense pride and gratitude for.
Playing for and captaining my country 111 times has truly been a dream come true. To show my gratitude to all of those that have played their part along this journey, feels like an impossibility.
“I feel indebted to many people for helping to change my life and shape my career in a way I couldn’t have ever dreamed of when I first started out at 9 years old.”
Bale never had a good relationship with the Spanish media and some sections of the fans who considered him not loyal enough to the team’s cause despite scoring a spectacular overhead kick goal in the
final of the 2018 UEFA Champions League.
The forward finished his career at MLS side, Los Angeles FC.
Izuchukwu OkosiIzuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.