Portuguese defender Pepe announces retirement from football aged 41

In a post shared on social media, with a video totalling 33 minutes in length, Pepe confirmed the end of his playing career after ending his contract with Porto.

The Portuguese centre-back reportedly had offers from Saudi Arabia as well as other clubs but, after reflection, has decided to bring an end to his career in professional football instead.

"I want to thank God for giving me the wisdom to be able to continue my journey," an emotional Pepe said in the video.

"I can't help but also thank all the presidents who bet and believed in me to be able to perform my work. To all the employees of all the clubs I've been to, who are the soul and essence of the clubs and the national team.

"And I want to thank everyone in the background. I want to leave a thank you and a hug of gratitude for all of you. And thank you all very much."

Pepe bids farewell to football with almost 900 official games played for the four teams he has represented.

The centre-back made 64 appearances for Maritimo before heading to Porto, where he made a total of 290 appearances in his two spells at the club. In between them, he played 334 games for Real Madrid and 52 games for Besiktas.

Born in Brazil but a Portuguese international, he hangs up his boots with more than 30 trophies won throughout his career, including a European Championship with the national team in 2016 and three Champions Leagues, all with Real Madrid.

The last game of Pepe's career was on July 5th in Germany, in Portugal's defeat to France in the quarter-finals of Euro 2024.

The defender leaves the Portuguese national team with 141 caps and eight goals and as the third most-capped player ever behind Cristiano Ronaldo (212) and Joao Moutinho (146).