Rennes (AFP) – Steve Mandanda, 2018 world champion and vice-champion in 2022 as N.2 goalkeeper of the Blues, announced on Saturday that he was ending his career with the France team, at the age of 37, five days after the international retirement of Hugo Lloris.
“Today, for me, the France team stops there,” said the current goalkeeper of Stade Rennes, international since 2008, at a press conference on the eve of the reception of Paris SG in the league, referring to ” a lot of pride and emotion”.
The former historic Marseille goalkeeper (35 caps) assured that the decision had been “made at the end” of the 2022 World Cup, completed by the final lost against Argentina on penalties.
“I lived great moments with the France team, it was a privilege and a pleasure for me to spend all these moments. But at 37 I think it’s the right time” to give way, especially since “young people are coming behind with a lot of qualities”, he told the journalists present.
The announcement comes five days after that of the international retirement of Lloris, his main competitor for fourteen years with the Blues, and of which he was the understudy at the Russian World Cup in 2018, then at the Qatari World Cup in 2022.
Mandanda made his 35th and final cap in the final World Cup group game on 30 November in Doha, a 1-0 loss to Tunisia in which he became the oldest player in history under the tricolor jersey.
Barred by Lloris (145 selections) in the French cage, he appeared on some 160 match sheets with the Blues, between his first cap in May 2018 and his last appearance on the bench, on December 18 during the Cup final. of the world.
“It allows us to close the loop with Hugo: we started together, we finish together. I did not have the same number of selections as him but I experienced a lot with him,” Mandanda said on Saturday.
With the departure of Lloris and Mandanda, a boulevard opens up for Mike Maignan, 27, package for the last World Cup and still stuck in the AC Milan infirmary.
The French team returns on March 24 against the Netherlands in Saint-Denis at the start of qualifying for Euro-2024.