{
  "id": 5446223,
  "title": "World Cup winner Llorente retires from Spain team at 31",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/04/world-cup-winner-llorente-retires-from-spain-team-at-31",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-04T00:11:58.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "New Straits Times",
    "slug": "new-straits-times",
    "url": "https://www.nst.com.my/sports/football/2026/09/1525351/world-cup-winner-llorente-retires-spain-team-31"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Spanish footballer Marcos Llorente has announced his retirement from the national team at the age of 31, following Spain's World Cup victory in July. The news came as a surprise in a social media post shared on Thursday. Llorente expressed that after much contemplation, he decided to end his time with the national team.\n\nDuring the World Cup, Llorente played as right back for Spain, starting two group games but only featuring for six minutes in the remaining matches. He came on as a substitute for Spain's semi-final win against France. Llorente stated that even though he is still young, he believes that if he continued to perform well, he would still have years left in his career. He acknowledged that many people may not understand his decision, even though he himself might not have understood it initially.\n\nLlorente has represented Atletico Madrid throughout his career, with two Champions League titles and a La Liga title to his name. He began his career at Real Madrid before moving to Atletico in 2019. In total, Llorente has 27 caps for Spain over a six-year international career. He expressed that regardless of whether he had participated in the World Cup or if Spain had won or not, the decision was already made from the heart. Llorente cherishes the experiences he had during his time with the national team, particularly the last 52 days spent with a group of players who fought until the very end to bring Spain to the top.",
  "summary": "PARIS: Marcos Llorente, who plays for Atletico Madrid and was part of Spain’s World Cup-winning squad in July, announced his retirement from the national team aged of 31 in a surprise social media post on Thursday.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 4,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Channel News Asia",
        "title": "World Cup winner Llorente retires from Spain duty at 31",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/03/world-cup-winner-llorente-retires-from-spain-duty-at-31",
        "published": "2026-09-03T18:27:30.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Winnipeg Free Press",
        "title": "World Cup winner Marcos Llorente retires from Spain team",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/03/world-cup-winner-marcos-llorente-retires-from-spain-team",
        "published": "2026-09-03T20:41:12.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Free Malaysia Today",
        "title": "World Cup winner Llorente retires from Spain team at 31",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/03/world-cup-winner-llorente-retires-from-spain-team-at-31",
        "published": "2026-09-03T22:50:51.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}