{"id":41088,"date":"2025-09-15T19:45:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T17:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/weisetech.dev\/fc-barcelona-noticias\/en\/official-samuel-umtiti-announces-his-professional-retirement_314698_102\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T09:48:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T07:48:31","slug":"official-samuel-umtiti-announces-his-professional-retirement_314698_102","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fcbarcelonanoticias.com\/en\/football\/official-samuel-umtiti-announces-his-professional-retirement_314698_102.html","title":{"rendered":"OFFICIAL: Samuel Umtiti announces his professional retirement at 31"},"content":{"rendered":"

Samuel Umtiti confirmed the rumors about his professional retirement on Monday. Through an emotional video, the 31-year-old defender confirmed that he will hang up his boots after failing to find a team in the summer<\/h2> \r\n
\r\n \r\n \r\n Calendar of FC Barcelona <\/a>\r\n<\/div>

Samuel Umtiti’s<\/strong> retirement from professional football is official. As we had anticipated in FCBN<\/a>, the French international, 2018 Russia World Cup winner and former FC Barcelona<\/strong> defender, decided to end his professional career at just 31 years old, after several seasons battling knee injuries and a market where no European club wanted him.<\/p>

The Yaound\u00e9 native underwent new surgery on his left knee in February 2024<\/a>, an operation from which he never managed to recover. The defender missed practically the entire 24\/25 season due to injury, returning in May for the last three Ligue 1 matchdays with Lille.<\/p>

However, he didn’t even play minutes with what was his last club. ‘Big Sam’ joined the French team in the summer of 2023, after terminating his contract with Bar\u00e7a<\/a>. The Frenchman had three years remaining on his contract with the *cul\u00e9s*, but finally agreed to his release after a good loan season at Lecce.<\/p>

Umtiti’s left knee never recovered after the Russia World Cup<\/h2>
\"Samuel<\/div> <\/div>
Samuel Umtiti warming up with Lecce<\/div> <\/div> <\/div>

In 22\/23, Umtiti seemed to leave his injury ordeal behind in Italy<\/a>, after playing 25 games (2,116 minutes). However, after returning to his country with Lille, his knee problems, his Achilles heel since the summer of 2018, reappeared.<\/p>

“I shut myself in. I didn’t want to go out with my friends. I didn’t want to go out in Barcelona because of the injuries. I don’t know if it was depression, but it’s true that I shut myself in<\/strong>,” the central defender said in a chat with ‘L’Equipe’ remembering his last years with the *azulgranas*.<\/p>

Samuel arrived in Catalonia in 2016 from Lyon, in exchange for 25 million euros. Although he managed to play 83 games in his first two seasons (16\/17, 17\/18), in the following four years (2018-2022) he barely accumulated 50 official appearances. In total, he was out for 512 days with the *cul\u00e9s*<\/strong>, resolving his loan to Lecce in the summer of 2022.<\/p>

In Russia 2018, the defender started in 6 of the 7 games with France<\/strong>, playing 540 minutes. After starting the 18\/19 season as a starter, he got injured at the end of September and, since then, his left knee never fully recovered.<\/p>

Samuel Umtiti’s statistics at FC Barcelona:<\/strong><\/h3>
Season<\/th> \t\t\tGP<\/th> \t\t\tMP<\/th> \t\t\tGoals<\/th> \t\t\tAssists<\/th> \t\t\tYC<\/th> \t\t\tRC<\/th> \t\t<\/tr><\/thead>
16-17<\/td> \t\t\t43<\/td> \t\t\t3,729<\/td> \t\t\t1<\/td> \t\t\t0<\/td> \t\t\t9<\/td> \t\t\t0<\/td> \t\t<\/tr>
17-18<\/td> \t\t\t40<\/td> \t\t\t3,539<\/td> \t\t\t1<\/td> \t\t\t0<\/td> \t\t\t7<\/td> \t\t\t0<\/td> \t\t<\/tr>
18-19<\/td> \t\t\t15<\/td> \t\t\t1,269<\/td> \t\t\t0<\/td> \t\t\t1<\/td> \t\t\t4<\/td> \t\t\t1<\/td> \t\t<\/tr>
19-20<\/td> \t\t\t18<\/td> \t\t\t1,319<\/td> \t\t\t0<\/td> \t\t\t0<\/td> \t\t\t6<\/td> \t\t\t0<\/td> \t\t<\/tr>
20-21<\/td> \t\t\t16<\/td> \t\t\t830<\/td> \t\t\t0<\/td> \t\t\t0<\/td> \t\t\t2<\/td> \t\t\t0<\/td> \t\t<\/tr>
21-22<\/td> \t\t\t1<\/td> \t\t\t90<\/td> \t\t\t0<\/td> \t\t\t0<\/td> \t\t\t1<\/td> \t\t\t0<\/td> \t\t<\/tr> <\/tbody>
Total<\/th> \t\t\t133<\/th> \t\t\t10,776<\/th> \t\t\t2<\/th> \t\t\t1<\/th> \t\t\t29<\/th> \t\t\t1<\/th> \t\t<\/tr><\/tfoot> <\/table>