Ivan Rakitić, Croatian midfielder who spent most of his career in LaLiga clubs Sevilla and Barcelona, has announced his retirement from professional football, aged 37. Rakitić announced it with a video posted on Instagram, reading a letter where he pays tribute to every team he has played, putting particular stress on his two stints at Sevilla.
"(At Sevilla) I experienced something different. You gave me so much more. You gave me a home. I had the honor of being captain, of lifting my first European title. And most importantly, there I met the love of my life, thanks to you", Rakitić continues (referring to 'football' as the interlocutor of the letter). "I found my partner, the mother of my daughters. I built my family."
Rakitić made his professional debut with FC Basel from Switzerland, where he was born. He joined Sevilla in 2011, where he won the Europa League in 2014. After six years at FC Barcelona, between 2014 and 2020, winning the treble in 2015, including scoring in the Champions League final, and four league titles, Rakitić returned to Seville, where he won a second Europa League title in 2023.
Rakitić then ended his career at HNK Hajduk Split, his only Croatian team, "returning to my roots". Although Ivan Rakitić was born in Rheinfelden, Switzerland, in 1988, both his parents were from Croatia, then Yugoslavia, and chose to represent Croatian national team for over twenty years, including being runner-ups in World Cup 2018.
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