Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov has officially announced his retirement at 38 years old with a video and written statement, which he posted on Instagram.
Berbatov was very candid in the statement, saying that he did try to find a team to play for last year, but it didn’t happen. He finished his soccer career at Indian league side Kerala Blasters last year and has been a pundit ever since.
Despite the fact he hasn’t played in over a year, Berbatov wanted to create an official farewell message to the public so they knew his career was over and that he wouldn’t be returning to the game. A criminally underrated striker, Berbatov was a journeyman, playing for eight clubs over the course of his professional career, including clubs like Manchester United, Fullham, Tottenham Hotspur and Monaco. He was an elite finisher and had a world class first touch, stunning crowds with moments of elegant simplicity like this:
Scoring an impressive 297 goals over 595 games in his career, Berbatov will be remembered as an entertainer, a player who truly embodied the the beautiful game with the flair and artistry he brought to the pitch every match. I was going to include a compilation of goals he scored over his career, but in classic Berbatov fashion, he added a highlight reel to his goodbye video so “nobody forgets the great goals I (he) scored.”
Lucky for us, Berbatov plans to continue on as a soccer pundit, so he will still be entertaining us off the pitch for years to come.
Cheers Berbo! You’ll always be remembered for making soccer that much more fun to watch every time you were on the field.