Spanish World Cup winner and former Real Madrid player Iker Casillas announces retirement

Spain's World Cup-winning captain and goalkeeper Iker Casillas on Tuesday (August 4, 2020) announced retirement from the professional football.

He took to his official social media handles and posted a picture where he penned down his retirement in Spanish.

Iker captioned it, "The important thing is the path you travel and the people who accompany you, not the destination to which it takes you, because that comes with work and effort alone, and I think I can say, without hesitation, that the path I have taken is the one I dreamt about."

Casillas represented Spain in 167 matches and led the Spanish team to its first-ever FIFA World Cup title in 2010. He was voted the tournament's best goalkeeper and received the Golden Glove.

He also won 2 European Cups and 1 Under-20 World Cup.

Besides Spain, the 39-year old led Real Madrid, the club he joined when he was 9 and stayed there for 25 years.

"Iker Casillas belongs at the heart of Real Madrid and will do so forever," said Real Madrid on his retirement.

They added, "Today one of the most important footballers in our 118 years of history calls it a day as a professional player, a player we love and admire, a goalkeeper who has made the Real Madrid legacy bigger with his work and exemplary behaviour both on and off the pitch."

Casillas played 725 matches for the Real Madrid's first team spanning over 16 seasons in which he won 19 titles - 3 European Cups, 3 Club World Cups, 2 European Super Cups, 5 Spanish Leagues, 2 Copa del Rey and 4 Spanish Super Cups.

Casillas then played in Portugal with FC Porto where he won 2 Portuguese Leagues, 1 Cup and 1 Supercup.  He joined Porto in 2015 but couldn't play after suffering a heart attack during a training session in April 2019.