“Thank you for this magnificent adventure”: Antoine Griezmann announces that he will no longer wear the French team jersey

Antoine Griezmann leaves the Blues after ten years in the national team. EPA – GUILLAUME HORCAJUELO

The Blues midfielder or striker surprised everyone by announcing that he would no longer wear the French team jersey, this Monday, September 30.

The vice-captain of the French team and 2018 world champion Antoine Griezmann announced his international retirement on Monday on his X account (ex-Twitter), “with a heart full of memories”.

“I am closing this chapter of my life”, wrote "Grizi" (137 caps, 44 goals), aged 33, who was left with a personal failure at Euro 2024, despite the semi-final of the Blues. “It is with deep emotion that I announce my retirement as a player of the French team, after ten incredible years”, Griezmann said in the video accompanying his message.

“Today it is time for me to turn a page and make way for the new generation”, he adds in this montage of just under two minutes showing his great moments in the selection: the victory in the World Cup in Russia, his celebrations of the Euro 2016, during which he scored 6 goals and lost in the final, or his tears in the quarter-final of the 2014 World Cup lost against Germany.

“Thanks to my coach”

His voiceover accompanying the images thanks “the supporters” and particularly salutes the coach Didier Deschamps. “Thank you to my coach, your trust and support throughout my international career have been essential to my development as an athlete”, he said.

Twice on the bench during the last Euro, notably during the semi-final lost against Spain (2-1), the Atlético Madrid player assured in the Téléfoot show in September that he did not want to stop playing for the national team. “No, for me the French team is something very important, a source of pride, I've always wanted to since I was little”, he assured. He said to himself “still there” while having “still wanting to play to represent France, after that, it was up to Deschamps to choose”. Griezmann, a very versatile midfielder capable of running to all four corners of the field, has long been presented as the “darling” of the French coach.