Denmark footballer Simon Kjaer announces retirement after 132 national appearances

Simon Kjaer. Pic/AFP

Denmark football player Simon Kjaer disclosed his decision to hang up his boots in an interview on Monday, after 132 caps with the national side. Having come through FC Midtjylland, Kjaer has played for Palermo, Roma, and Sevilla, before joining AC Milan in 2020 and helping the Rossoneri win the Scudetto in 2022.

At the national side, Kjaer made his debut for the senior team in 2009 and went on to play six international competitions including three editions of World Cup and three European Championships, reports Xinhua.

The 35-year-old defender has been without a club since his contract with AC Milan expired last summer. The full interview will be released later this week, but the snippet revealed that the veteran had been thinking about the decision for a long time.

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Despite not boasting a quite glorious career, Kjaer earned rave reviews in a European Championship fixture between Denmark and Finland in 2021. When Christian Eriksen collapsed on the ground, team captain Kjaer was the first one to check his condition before organizing his teammates to cover Eriksen for treatment. He was on the pitch when Eriksen collapsed suddenly after suffering cardiac arrest during their Euro 2020 opener against Finland.

Kjaer was awarded the UEFA President's Award along with the medical team that took care of Eriksen on that fateful day.

Born on March 26, 1989, in Horsens, Denmark, Simon Thorup Kjaer was named the 2007 Danish under-19 Talent of the Year and 2009 Danish Talent of the Year. He played 132 matches for Denmark, including participation in the FIFA World Cup in 2010, 2018, and 2022, and the UEFA European Championship in 2012, 2020 and 2024.

Kjaer started playing football when he was four-year-old and soon joined a small-time club Lund IF near Horsens. He then moved to the youth team of Danish Superliga club FC Midtjylland (FCM) in 2004, where his father, Jorn Kjaer, was the club's equipment manager.

From there his football journey took him to Palermo, Roma and Sevilla before ending at AC Milan.

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