Last month, Samuel Umtiti announced his retirement from football at the age of just 31. On Friday, he announced his post-career plans. The Olympique Lyonnais academy graduate had been a free agent fo...
Last month, Samuel Umtiti announced his retirement from football at the age of just 31. On Friday, he announced his post-career plans.
The Olympique Lyonnais academy graduate had been a free agent following the expiry of his two-year Lille OSC contract. Umtiti hadn’t featured since January 2024, as his career has been plagued by numerous knee injuries. In the end, Umtiti only featured 13 times for Les Dogues.
Despite offers, the 2018 World Cup winner made the choice to call time on his career. It was a premature end to a career that reached its height during the World Cup win with France in 2018, but that has since been disrupted by the injuries that he played through in that very tournament.
He was a guest as Les Bleus swatted aside Azerbaijan on Friday night. In a post-match interview with TF1, the former Barcelona defender then revealed what he plans to do next.
“My decision to retire was made a year, a year and a half ago, so I have already mourned [my career], and I have already thought about what to do after,” he began.
Umtiti added, “It is true that I have always wanted to be a manager. I want to pass things on; that is important to me. I want to be [a manager]. I need to have responsibilities. I need to train myself because the reality is that just having been a footballer is no guarantee of being a good manager. So I need to train myself, and that is what I am going to do. I hope to be on the bench in a few years’ time!”
Category: General Sports
