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Updated January 8th, 2022 at 14:29 IST

Is Gareth Bale going to retire at the end of the season? Here's all you need to know

Real Madrid star forward Gareth Bale is considering retiring from professional football if the Wales national team fails to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Reported by: Prithvi Virmani
Gareth Bale
Image: AP | Image:self
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According to reports, Real Madrid and Welsh star forward Gareth Bale is considering retirement from professional football if the Wales national team fails to qualify for the 2022 FIFA Qatar World Cup. Currently, Bale has until June 30, 2022, until his contract with Real Madrid runs out. And as of now, Wales has to compete in a play-off match against Austria and if they manage to win then they will play against Scotland or Ukraine in March.

According to David Ornstein's report in The Athletic, if Wales do not qualify for the Qatar World Cup then Bale will choose to retire from professional football. And if they do manage to make it to the prestigious tournament then given that he will be without a club in the summer he will most likely move to a club in the Premier League or the Championship. The deal would most likely be a short term one so that he can get regular playing time ahead of the World Cup. At Madrid, Bale has been out for the past three months with an injury and it seems as though the Blancos hierarchy does not want to renew his contract at the club.

Bale had addressed retiring rumours

Previously there had been reports that Bale was going to retire but the Welsh forward had addressed those rumours when he was on national team duty back in September 2021. "I've only just started this year and you're already asking questions! I haven't thought about anything beyond this game (Wales' World Cup qualifier against Belarus) to be honest. I'm just thinking about each and every game as it comes. Just trying to enjoy it. I want to play in a World Cup for Wales, not just for myself, but for the country as a whole. I think it would be an incredible experience for the nation," said Bale as quoted by Goal.com when asked about his intentions of hanging up his boots at a press conference back in September 2021.

Bale was then asked if he ever did consider retiring from football, and he replied that people have made up stories, he never planned on finishing. Bale said that he just wanted to concentrate on the Euros at the time without explaining himself. He said that it was better he said nothing at the time as the media would have made a big deal out of it regardless of what he said.

"Everyone just seems to make up stories when they want. I don't know. They just make up some wild things. I never planned to finish. Like I said before, I just wanted to concentrate on the Euros and didn't want to have to explain myself. I didn't feel like I needed to. I still don't feel like I need to, and I think no matter what I said I was going to do, whether it was to stay, leave, retire, whatever, it would have caused a big story. An annoying story, and a distracting story. So I think for me it was better not to say anything and just try to concentrate on the job in hand," said Bale as quoted by Goal.com.

Image: AP

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Published January 8th, 2022 at 14:29 IST

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