"I don’t consider myself a veteran. As you can see, my spirit is about 13 years old. Who knows, maybe when the 2022 World Cup comes around, I will still be competing for a place on the team. My body will be 39, but my spirit will have only turned 17."
Brazil right-back Dani Alves writes in The Players' Tribune after it was announced he would miss out on the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russiaâ„¢ due to suffering a knee injury during Paris Saint-Germain's Coupe de France victory
What makes some of @CBF_Futebol's biggest stars great? Tite shares.
Full story: https://t.co/uVyoACdBsZ@MarceloM12 @DaniAlvesD2 @paulinhop8 @neymarjr pic.twitter.com/YhuSbQNkln
— The Players' Tribune (@PlayersTribune) May 14, 2018
“At the moment if I want to continue to work, I think I have to move out of the country, because my gut feeling at the moment is that I would feel I would betray my club by staying in England. People might feel that I’ve betrayed what I’ve built here."
Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger talks about his plans with the club's official website after leading the club for 22 years
"If nothing strange happens, this World Cup will be my last participation with the Spanish national team."
Spain midfielder Andres Iniesta tells Onda Cero radio that he will likely retire from the national team after the World Cup in Russia
"I would be dishonest if I told you I’m not afraid. But deep down I feel calm and at peace because I know I’m naturally curious. And the day I stop playing football I will find a way not to get bored and I’ll stay busy. After all, players like us, who have lived the game intensely, have to keep their minds occupied and have a reason to get up, something to fight for. I’ll never get bored or miss being in the public eye. The only problem is that my life has been organised for me for 23 years. Every morning you are given a timetable. But when you have 24 hours ahead of you with nothing to do, that could be a problem."
Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon speaks with Gerard Pique for The Players' Tribune on whether he is afraid of retirement
“There was a pressure here (signalling his head), powerful, never going away. I was fine when I went into the dressing room for the France game but I started to feel this powerful dizziness, overwhelmed, panicked, and they lay me on the physio’s bench. That was the first time but I had nasty episodes like that again. There’s medicine, psychological treatment to overcome the barriers you’ve erected, the fear. It started in February and it lasted until the summer. When the Euros came I decided I couldn’t go, that I had to isolate myself.​"
Bojan Krkic opens up on his anxiety attacks as a teenager that stopped him from going to UEFA EURO 2008 with Spain, speaking in an interview with The Guardian
“We’ve been in this transition period for a while and lost so many veterans who were great leaders on the field. I think it took a period of time for certain players to step up or feel comfortable stepping up into a greater role in the team. I feel good with where we are, but I still feel like we have a lot of progress to be made in terms of identifying those leadership roles and the roles on the team in general.”
USA forward Alex Morgan speaks with The Athletic about the state of the USA women's national team