Bale confirmed the news of his retirement on his official Twitter account on Monday, January 9th, 2022. He said he took the decision to retire after thoughtful consideration.After careful and thoughtful consideration, I announce my immediate retirement from club and international football. The 33-year-old thanked everyone at all the football clubs he had played for in his career for the support that they showed to him. He is Wales' all-time top scorer, has won more European Cup / Champions League titles than any other British player in football history. He broke into the limelight at Tottenham Hotspur which saw him make a mega transfer to Real Madrid during the summer of 2013 for a record transfer fee of £85.1 million. However, things went awful with him at the Galacticos after he fell down the pecking order with Zinedine Zidane, who was the manager of Real Madrid. He won the UEFA Champions League five times during the 2013/14, 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18, and 2021/22 seasons.