Portugal Football Legend Pepe Announces Retirement At 41

Football Community, especially, Portugal football fans were left with mixed feelings following the retirement of Kepler Laveran de Lima Ferreira, popularly known as Pepe, from football at the age of 41.

Born in 26 February 1983, the Real Madrid legend garnered 34 trophies during his 23 professional seasons.

Pepe hails from Maceio, Brazil. He moved to Portugal at the age of 18 to join Maritimo. Promoted to the first team in his second season, Pepe would spend three years at the club in the top flight before a transfer to Porto in 2004 where he became famous.

After three seasons and two Primeira Liga titles at Porto, he proceeded to the Bernabeu in 2007. He appeared in 229 La Liga contests for Los Blancos over a decade, and won three league titles, two Copas del Rey and three Champions League trophies.

Following an 18-month stint at Besiktas, Pepe returned to Porto, where he spent the last six seasons, winning two more league titles and four Tacas de Portugal.

Internationally, Pepe made his senior debut in 2007 and had 141 appearances, making him Portugal’s third-most-capped player of all-time. Pepe appeared at five Euros, including Euro 2024, and four World Cups. He also participated in the Euro 2016.