Legendary Portuguese defender Pepe retires at 41

Portuguese-Brazilian centre-back Pepe announced on Thursday at the age of 41 that he is ending his career as a professional footballer, during which he played for Real Madrid, Porto and the Portuguese national team.

Pepe announced his retirement in a video shared on his social media, in which he reviews his career and the 31 trophies he has won, including the three Champions Leagues he won with Real Madrid.

In the recording, titled “Obrigado” (thank you), the player recalled the “essential” role of his mother in “letting him fly towards his dream of being a professional footballer” and thanked his family, fans, teammates and club presidents who “bet” on him.

The player, born in Brazil and naturalized Portuguese, has played 894 matches in his career, the last of which came at Euro 2024 in Germany.

Real name

Képler Laveran de Lima Ferreira ‘Pepe’ (Maceió, Brazil, 1983) started out at Corinthians Alagoano in his native Maceió.

In 2001, at the age of 19 and with just five euros in his pocket, he moved to the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira to represent Marítimo.

Three years later he signed for Porto, where he won two league titles and a Portuguese Cup; the first trophies in a list of achievements that was extended with his move to the Spanish capital in 2010, where he spent almost a decade at Real Madrid.

There, he became one of the mainstays of the white team, with which he played 334 matches and scored 15 goals, winning 3 Champions Leagues, 2 Club World Cups, 2 European Super Cups, 3 Leagues, 2 Copa del Reys and 2 Spanish Super Cups.

In 2019, he left the Santiago Bernabéu for Turkish side Besiktas, and a season and a half later he returned to Porto.

Even at the end of his career, he was a key part of the blue and white squad until his last season and, wearing the captain’s armband, he added two more Leagues, four Cups and a League Cup to his list of achievements with the ‘dragons’.

Nationalization key

Pepe became a Portuguese citizen in 2007 and is leaving the club after having represented the Portuguese national team on 141 occasions, spanning four World Cups and five European Championships, including the most recent one in Germany.

He was instrumental in the country’s first major achievement, Euro 2016 in France, and added to Portugal’s list of achievements by winning the UEFA Nations League in 2019.

“At the end of his football career, Pepe leaves us an example of professionalism, dedication and, above all, a huge passion for football and the national team,” said the president of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), Fernando Gomes, in a statement.

Lisbon / EFE