Ádám Szalai, the former captain of the Hungarian national football team, announced his retirement on Monday.
“I am very proud of my career, I started in the Bundesliga and I wanted to finish there as a professional, i.e. at the highest level. I played in four different teams, including two in the Champions League. At the moment, I am the most successful Hungarian goalscorer in the German top flight,” the 35-year-old striker, who eventually moved to Basel in February 2022 after the Bundesliga, concluded at his press conference on Monday, and the Swiss team was his last club. The attacker played in 276 matches in the German top flight and scored 54 goals.
Szalai explained that he initially planned to finish last summer, which became this summer. He called his decision thoughtful and deliberate.
“Those stadiums, the full houses in the Bundesliga. It’s difficult to highlight anything from these experiences, so I don’t want anything positive or negative,” said Ádám Szalai, who wants to continue to be active in football, when asked by MTI. “I would like to use the kind of knowledge and experience I gained in Germany at home. I want to take on something that I can identify with one hundred percent, i.e. not jump into something right away.”
Szalai revealed that leaving his country for such a long time involved many sacrifices and homesickness, so he imagines his future here.
Regarding the national team, he said that he is no longer part of the daily routine of the national team, but if he wins against Lithuania on Tuesday, he can expect to continue in the best possible situation, because it was beneficial to bring home a point from Montenegro.
“Football has much more difficult problems in life, but the competitive situation and constant adaptation taught me to handle things better in other areas of life as well. I can thank football for that,” said Szalai, who came with his partner and child to his announcement at the training center. He revealed that no one knew about his decision, because he learned from his mistake when it leaked last fall that he was canceling the national team.
Ádám Szalai joined Mainz in 2010 and then played for Schalke 04, Hoffenheim and Hannover before returning to Mainz. His last club was Basel in Switzerland. He played 86 times for the Hungarian national team and scored 26 goals.
(MTI)
Opening photo: Ádám Szalai, the former captain of the Hungarian national football team, announces his retirement at the press conference of the Hungarian national football team at the Telk training center on June 19, 2023. The 35-year-old striker, who canceled his participation in the national team last September, last played for the Swiss team Basel. MTI/Zoltán Máthé
