Document holder for the variety of caps (157) with Belgium, Jan Vertonghen introduced on Instagram on Friday that he was retiring from worldwide responsibility. The 37-year-old Anderlecht defender is leaving the Purple Devils after Euro 2024 the place Belgium was eradicated within the spherical of 16 by France on Monday (1-0). Vertonghen scored the one personal purpose of the match within the eighty fifth minute.
Jan Vertonghen shared images of his first and final caps with the message “first, final. Thanks for all of the recollections, I lived my dream!”. Within the course of, the official Purple Devils account reacted to the announcement of the nationwide workforce’s quantity 5. “From the coaching grounds to the pitches, you confirmed us what it was wish to be an actual Purple Satan. We’ll miss you, Jan”
The defender who performed for Ajax, Tottenham, Benfica and Anderlecht earned his first cap with the Purple Devils on 2 June 2007 throughout a qualifying match for Euro 2008, misplaced to Portugal (1-2). René Vandereycken was then coach. Vertonghen went on to build up 157 caps and play in six main worldwide tournaments with Belgium. He reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Brazil in 2014 and the identical stage of the competitors at Euro 2016 in France.
On the 2018 World Cup in Russia, which marked the height of the “golden era” of Belgian soccer, the Devils completed third, solely to be eradicated by France within the semi-finals. Vertonghen additionally performed at Euro 2020, stopped for Belgium within the quarter-finals, and skilled elimination within the first spherical on the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. At Euro 2024 in Germany, the central defender, injured initially of the match, missed the primary match after which began the following three.
In complete, Vertonghen performed 14 World Cup matches and 11 European Championship matches. A teammate of Vincent Kompany, Thomas Vermaelen, Toby Alderweireld, the left-footed Vertonghen usually offered help as a full-back within the Purple Devils’ defence. He scored ten objectives in complete: three in World Cup qualifiers, two in Euro qualifiers, three in worldwide friendlies and two within the World Cup. In 2014, he scored the one purpose within the match between Belgium and South Korea on the third day of Group H. In Russia in 2018, Vertonghen launched the Purple Devils’ ‘Remontada’ in opposition to Japan within the spherical of 16. With Belgium trailing 0-2, Vertonghen scored with a header after 69 minutes, in a match that the Purple Devils would finally win 3-2 following a purpose from Nacer Chadli in added time.
On 10 October 2017, Vertonghen turned probably the most capped Purple Satan in historical past in a 4-0 victory over Cyprus on the King Baudouin Stadium, a qualifying match for the 2018 World Cup. With 97 caps, he surpassed Jan Ceulemans and his 96 caps obtained between 1977 and 1991. Since then, eight different gamers from the “golden era” have surpassed Ceulemans however few appear in a position to catch Vertonghen: Axel Witsel (132 caps) and Toby Alderweireld (127) are each 35 years previous whereas Eden Hazard (126) ended his profession in October. The highway can also be lengthy for Romelu Lukaku, 31 years previous and 119 caps.
At membership degree, Vertonghen has been enjoying for 2 seasons with Anderlecht, with whom he found the Jupiler Professional League. An skilled chief for the numerous hopefuls of the Brussels membership, comparable to Zeno Debast, he has performed 72 matches however his contract expired on the finish of June, with out it being recognized whether or not will probably be prolonged.
