Goalkeeper Steve Mandanda announces retirement

International goalkeeper Steve Mandanda, world champion with the French team in 2018, announced, at the age of 40, that he is putting an end to his career, in an interview with the newspaper L'Equipe. "I needed to take my time to accept it, first of all, because it's not easy, but yes, I'm stopping," said the former Olympique de Marseille (OM) goalkeeper, who has 35 caps for the Blues .

"I had a long period of reflection because I had a lot of calls [from clubs Le Havre, Lorient, Guingamp, Brest, Montpellier, according to L'Equipe ] but I said no each time," adds Steve Mandanda, who has been free since July ¹ and the end of his contract with Stade Rennais.

Trained at Le Havre, where he revealed himself in Ligue 2, Mandanda was recruited by Olympique de Marseille where he established himself in his first season in the elite, in 2007-2008 .

The Kinshasa native spent most of his career at OM – fourteen seasons in total. He won a French championship title in 2010 , three consecutive League Cups (2010, 2011, 2012) and two Trophées des Champions (2010, 2011) under the leadership of Didier Deschamps, who became his coach in France in 2012.

After earning his first French cap in May 2008 under Raymond Domenech, Mandanda established himself as a regular in the French goal before losing his place in 2009 to Hugo Lloris.

The former OM goalkeeper remained Lloris' understudy for many years, participating in the greatest adventures of Deschamps' Blues, from the Euro 2016 final at home to the World Cup final in 2022 in Qatar , and was especially in the squad for the second world title won in 2018 in Russia . He had announced the end of his international career in January 2023.