Medhi Benatia retires from football

Medhi Benatia has announced that he is ending his career in football in an Instagram post.

Benatia played 66 games for Morocco on the international stage. He made his debut for them in 2008 and represented the nation at four Africa Cup of Nations tournaments and the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Benatia was born in 1987 in Courcouronnes (France) to a Moroccan father and an Algerian mother. He begin his football career in the French club Marseille from 2005-2008. He was then loaned to Tours and Lorient before joining Clermont in 2008.

Two years later he joined the Italian club Udinese, having featured in 80 of their games from 2010-2013. He has transferred to Roma, and helped them to a 2nd place in the Italian league.

His major breakthrough came when he joined Bayern Munich for €26 million. There, he won the Bundesliga in two seasons 2014–15, and 2015-16. Although he was featured in 26 games only during his stay at Bayern Munich.

He was later loaned to Juventus in 2016, and and was then signed permanently by the club in 2017. He made, however, only five Serie A appearances during the first half of the 2018–19 season. In 2019, Benatia moved the Qatari club Al-Duhail for €8 million transfer fee and €2 million in bonuses.

At the Before the end of his career, he moved in the summer of 2021, to the Turkish club Fatih Karagümrük and made 6 appearances. Before annoucing his retirement .