Video: Pepe Reina announces retirement decision at 42 years old

GENOA, ITALY – NOVEMBER 7: Pepe Reina of Como stands next to a smoke-bomb thrown onto the pitch during the Serie A match between Genoa and Como at Stadio Luigi Ferraris on November 7, 2024 in Genoa, Italy. (Photo by Simone Arveda/Getty Images)

Como goalkeeper Pepe Reina, formerly of Napoli, Milan, Lazio, Liverpool and Barcelona, has announced that he will be retiring from professional football at the age of 42 this summer in order to explore new opportunities as a coach: ‘The time has come’. 

Reina, who has made 12 appearances across all competitions for newly-promoted Como in 2024-25, 11 in Serie A, will be calling it a day at the end of the current campaign. 

The veteran stopper will turn 43 at the end of August, but felt that he still had ‘more to offer’ in the 2024-25 campaign. 

He admitted that there was a nervous moment last summer after leaving Villarreal as a free agent, as he ‘couldn’t find a project’ that ‘excited’ him, but in the end, he joined Como in Serie A, coached by his former international colleague Cesc Fabregas. 

Both Fabregas and Reina were part of the Spain national team squads that won Euro 2008, the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012 in back-to-back-to-back major international competitions. 

Reina has also turned out for a selection of high-profile clubs across Europe throughout his career, beginning in the youth ranks at Barcelona, before joining Villarreal, Liverpool, Napoli, Bayern Munich, Milan, Aston Villa and most recently Como. 

The Spaniard has made 953 competitive appearances across all competitions at club level, plus 35 caps for the Spain national team. 

His final game in club football will be in a potential Serie A title decider between Como and second-placed Inter on Friday night. 

Video: Reina announces retirement plans 

“Se acaba una carrera muy bonita”.@PReina25 cuelga los guantes 👋🧤. pic.twitter.com/n3MVyLNSy0

— Fútbol en Movistar Plus+ (@MovistarFutbol) May 19, 2025

“A beautiful career is ending, a complete life,” Reina revealed in an interview with Movistar. 

“I feel very lucky for what I’ve experienced, it’s been a lot of years. I didn’t expect it, but I think the time has come and I want to end it here.

“There was a moment where I had a hard time last summer because I couldn’t find a project that excited me. I had more to offer and this year has been the one that has made me see that I’m done now, in the sense that I no longer have much to offer from this position. 

“I am very lucky, it has been a privilege.”

Reina has also recently disclosed that he plans to begin a career as a coach from next season onwards. 

He has not yet revealed which club he intends to join, but has hinted that he will be a youth-team coach initially, rather than in a first team, due to his current lack of coaching licenses.