From near‑amputation to retirement: Cazorla’s final chapter at 41

Spanish midfielder Santi Cazorla announced his retirement from professional football on Thursday via Instagram, ending a career that stretched over more than two decades and saw him play until the age of 41. He wrote, “There are stories that don’t end…they live on forever,” and thanked supporters. Cazorla had been playing with his boyhood club Oviedo since 2023. He helped them gain promotion to the top flight in 2025, but the club was relegated again last season. He thrived with Villarreal and Arsenal, becoming a major contributor under Arsène Wenger from 2012 to 2018. With Arsenal he won the FA Cup twice, in 2014 and 2015.

Cazorla calls time after 23-year career with Oviedo farewell

Internationally, Cazorla won the European Championships with Spain in 2008 and 2012. An injury kept him out of Spain’s World Cup triumph in 2010. Throughout his career he endured serious injuries, including an ankle problem that required eight operations and nearly led to the loss of his foot. Doctors told him he would never play again and that a skin graft from his arm was needed, leaving part of a tattoo on his foot and a gangrene infection that threatened amputation. Cazorla said, “The problem was that it did not heal and the wounds would reopen, become infected.” He flew to Spain to see specialist Dr Mikel Sanchez, who said, “He saw that I had a tremendous infection, that I had damaged part of the bone and damaged the Achilles tendon.” He also contracted a blood infection during his recovery. Despite the setbacks he returned to football, extending his career by almost a decade before hanging up his boots on Thursday.