Barcelona and Gabon men’s senior national team striker, captain and all time top goal scorer with 30 goals, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, has retired from international football.
Aged 33, the ex-Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund centre forward wrote a letter to the Gabonese football federation on Tuesday to announce his retirement.
“After 13 years of pride in representing my country, I announce that I am ending my international career. I would like to thank the Gabonese people and all those who have supported me in the good like the bad times,” he revealed.
“I will keep a lot of good memories like the day I made my debut at romnisports, or the day I came back from Nigeria with the African Ballon d’Or. I would also like to thank all my coaches, staff and the players that I have come across during this career.
“Finally, I thank my father who gave me the desire to do like him, hoping to have made him proud by wearing our colours.”
As the Gabonese national team skipper, Aubameyang led the team to their best performance in international competition in 2012 by helping them to reach the quarter-final stage.
Meanwhile, Auba’s last tournament early this year (January) with Gabon was a disappointing one after he was forced to withdraw from the squad without kicking the ball due to heart related health complications.
Prior to that he had also contracted Covid-19 at the start of the tournament which was held in Cameroon from January to February 2022.
