Marcos Llorente has announced his retirement from international football with Spain. The Atlético Madrid star's surprise decision comes just weeks after he was crowned a 2026 World Cup winner.
The 31-year-old revealed his call on social media on Thursday, confirming that walking away from the national team followed long consideration. It was tied neither to the World Cup result nor to how much he played in the tournament.
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Llorente said: "After a lot of time thinking about it, I have decided to end my time with the national team. I am aware that I am still young, and that perhaps, if I continued to do things correctly, I would have had other years ahead of me to keep playing in this shirt."
He added: "I know that many of you will not understand this decision, and perhaps I myself would not have understood it, had I looked at it from the outside. But it is a personal decision, one I thought about a great deal, and above all, it stems from how I feel. And regardless of whether I was going to go to the World Cup or not, or whether we were going to win or not, I had already made this decision."
The Atlético Madrid player continued: "I can only be endlessly grateful to all the people I met during these years, who made it possible for me and my family to live unique, unforgettable moments."
Llorente concluded: "I will keep everything I lived through, but above all, these last 52 days, with a wonderful group that fought until the end, in order to put Spain in the highest place. And that is what we did. It was a pride to represent my country, and to be part of this story. Thank you for everything. A hug to everyone."
Early retirement
His international career ran for around six years. Since making his Spain debut in November 2020, Llorente won 27 caps without scoring, according to the Royal Spanish Football Federation.
Llorente featured in Spain's squad at Euro 2020, held in 2021, and played at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. He then ended his international journey in the best possible way, lifting the 2026 World Cup.
He played three matches at the last World Cup, including the semi-final against France, which Spain won 2-0.
The forward has been at Atlético Madrid since 2019. He began his professional career with Deportivo Alavés and then Real Madrid before joining Los Rojiblancos, winning the La Liga title with them in the 2020-2021 season.
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