“The mission is accomplished”
©IMAGO
Former Belgian international Divock Origi is hanging up his boots at the age of 31. “My mission as a player is complete. I have fulfilled my childhood dream of playing on the biggest stages and winning the biggest trophies. I am grateful to God for all of this,” the striker wrote in an Instagram post. “The mission is accomplished. Now I turn to my next calling. The journey continues.”
Origi was trained at KRC Genk and LOSC Lille, and he got off to a flying start with the French after his professional debut in February 2013. In the summer of 2014, two months after his 19th birthday, he made the jump onto the World Cup bandwagon. After the tournament, he signed with the great Liverpool FC, who let him stay in Lille for another year. He then experienced his most successful years with the Reds.
Only interrupted by a loan to VfL Wolfsburg in the 2017/18 season, for whom he scored seven goals in 36 appearances, Origi played 175 games for Liverpool from 2015 to 2022 – the most in his career. He contributed 41 goals and 17 assists. After his return from Wolves, Origi was supposed to leave the Reds, but he turned down an offer from Wolverhampton worth €30 million. Under Jürgen Klopp, Origi fought his way back into the team after a good six months and became a Champions League hero.
Due to injury-related absences, the attacker moved into the starting line-up in the semi-final second leg against FC Barcelona and scored a brace to help Liverpool successfully come back 4-0. In the final he scored 2-0 against Tottenham. He also won the Premier League with the Reds in 2020, after which his sporting importance declined. In 2022 he moved to AC Milan on a free transfer, but he was neither happy there nor with the loan club Nottingham. After his return, he was cut out in the summer of 2024 and served out his contract until the end of 2025 before being released.
Fashion instead of football: Origi sees his career as fulfilled
“To my fans around the world who helped me shine: Every unforgettable moment, every goal, every piece of history we wrote together will forever be ours. To every club and every coach and teammate who stood by me: thank you. You have shaped me in ways that go far beyond the pitch. It was a pleasure to represent Belgium, my home country, while keeping Kenya, my roots, in my heart. And to my family and the people closest to me… Without you I wouldn’t be who I am today. I’m forever grateful to you,” Origi continued.
In a post for “The Players’ Tribune“, the striker revealed that he first told his father about the planned end of his career in February. “I think he wanted to make sure that I didn’t make this decision on a momentary whim,” Origi explained: “When you look back and can enjoy all the beautiful moments with nothing but gratitude and without any regret, then you know that it’s time to say goodbye. (…) I was lucky enough to have seen all the stages and almost all the big competitions in the world. I feel fulfilled in football, Like my journey is complete, scoring goals and winning trophies is one of the best feelings in the world. I will look back and smile at all these moments – the moments with God – and just enjoy them forever.”
Origi shoots Liverpool further in the Champions League semi-final against Barça
Origi’s time in football won’t quite end. The 32-time international player explained that he would be setting up the DLF agency as a consultant with his partner Marvin Willem Ofori, but he also emphasized: “I have new goals and other things in life that I want to pursue with the same passion with which I have pursued football all these years. On the one hand, I am completely dedicated to fashion as a craft. I am already putting a lot of energy into acquiring a huge amount of knowledge about history and the industry. I am striving to do this at the highest level to study and hopefully have the opportunity to learn from some of the best designers in the world.”