Emiliano Martínez has won the World Cup and the Copa América, achieving both global and continental greatness for his country. On top of that, he has been recognized as the best goalkeeper, winning both the Goalkeeper of the Year award at the Ballon d’Or and the FIFA Best award. However, at 32 years old, the question arises: when will Martínez retire? While he may not have won major club titles yet, almost every possible achievement with his national team has already been accomplished.
Martínez has addressed this question, and his answer reflects his fun-loving personality. Despite the serious tone of the question, he jokingly said that he would retire—but only after winning the 2026 World Cup.
Yesterday marked the two-year anniversary of Argentina’s World Cup victory in Qatar, and to commemorate this, the Argentina Football Association (AFA) released a video on their official YouTube channel, AFA Estudio, featuring a few players from the World Cup-winning squad. Among them were Martínez, Enzo Fernández, Alexis Mac Allister, Gonzalo Montiel, and Lautaro Martínez.
In the video, Martínez reflected on his memorable save during the World Cup final against France, where he stopped a crucial shot from Randal Kolo Muani. He jokingly shared, “I swear I made an even better save than that one. I closed my eyes and thought, ‘Take my head off.'” He then explained how he positioned himself during the save, saying, “I came up sideways in front of Kolo Muani and stretched out my arm as the ball bounced. Normally, I would keep my hands low, but I reached out that time.”
Martínez also expressed his commitment to the 2026 World Cup, revealing that if Argentina were to win it, he would retire: “I will retire, I promise.” He noted that no team has won the World Cup in consecutive tournaments since Italy (1934 and 1938) and Brazil (1958 and 1962), but he is determined to achieve that with Argentina.
In addition to his World Cup success, Martínez has also won the FIFA Best goalkeeper award in 2023, as well as the prestigious Lev Yashin Trophy for Best Goalkeeper at the Ballon d’Or, both in 2022 and 2023.
