'I'm not a player anymore' - ex-Netherlands international Eljero Elia announces retirement

2023-02-21 16:24

'I'm not a player anymore' - ex-Netherlands international Eljero Elia announces retirement


After being out of work for half a year at home, former Dutch international and Bundesliga star Eljero Elia announced his retirement.


"I'm no longer a player"

"I've left football a long time ago," Elia told ESPN's "De Voetablkantine" on Sunday. "But I was too busy to even make the announcement. Now is the time to let the Netherlands know that I am no longer a player.


The Dutchman later added on his decision: "In my head, I've retired for a few years. I couldn't really enjoy the last couple of seasons, I didn't even play in Utrecht (his penultimate home). club) for any good moment."


club career

Eljero Elijah is 36 years old and mainly plays as a left winger on the field. He made his debut from his hometown team ADO Den Haag at the age of 17, and then moved to Twente, Hamburg, Juventus, Werder Bremen, Southampton (on loan), Feyenoord, İstanbul Başakşehir and Utrecht.


In November 2021, Elia returned to ADO Den Haag to play, but missed the rest of the season due to a torn ankle ligament. In July 2022, he left the team due to the expiration of his contract, and has been unemployed at home since then.


national team career

Eljero Elia only made 5 starts for Netherlands and played 25 times as a substitute in his player era. He scored 2 goals and 4 assists in total.


Personal plans after retirement

According to the "Bild" report, Elia began to engage in the rap industry after retiring. Last August, he released a hip-hop album called "Molenwijk", dedicated to the neighborhood in The Hague where he grew up.


However, Elia's career as a singer has not been very successful so far. His most famous song has only around 55,000 streams on Spotify.