“Time to say goodbye”
At the age of 31: world champion ends his career
15.09.2025 – 7:33 p.m.Reading time: 1 min.
With France, he celebrated the greatest triumph of his career in 2018. Now world champion Samuel Umtiti is drawing a line under his career.
The French central defender Samuel Umtiti announced the end of his career at the age of 31. This was announced by the ex-Barça star via Instagram. “After an intensive career with ups and downs, it is now time to say goodbye,” wrote Umtiti to a video that shows the highlights of his career. He “gave everything with passion and does not regret anything.”
Last season, Umtiti was under contract with the French first division club OSC Lille, which had expired in July. Again and again he had to struggle with injuries in recent years. After a knee surgery in February 2024, for example, he had failed for over a year. After that, a calf injury put him out of action. Umtiti completed his last competitive game in January 2024.
According to Raphaël Varane, Blaise Matuidi, Adil Rami and Steve Mandanda, the 31-time international is already the fifth world champion in 2018, who ends his profile career. He played a key role at the tournament in Russia: with six starting start -ups and his goal in the semi -finals against Belgium (1-0), he made a decisive contribution to winning the title.
Umtiti began his career at Olympique Lyon, where he was trained and 170 competitive games played. In 2016 he moved to FC Barcelona. In six years at Barça, he only came to 133 missions due to injury, but won two Spanish championships.
After a loan to Us Lecce in Italy, he joined the OSC Lille in 2023.