Bodo Illgner - Real Madrid to romance author

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A 1990 World Cup winner with Germany, Bodo Illgner won a LaLiga medal in his first season after joining Real Madrid in 1996, and the following year helped end the club’s long wait for a ‘Septima’ seventh European Cup. He remained at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu until 2001, winning a further LaLiga title and Champions League trophy while helping Iker Casillas emerge as the first choice. After retirement Illgner and his wife Bianca moved to Alicante, where they together wrote a German-language novel ‘Alles’ [everything]. The romance based in the world of top-level football features a goalkeeper protagonist who gets involved in adventures on and off the pitch.

Ronaldo Nazario – ElClasico to Real Valladolid presidency

The only player in history to have won LaLiga’s top scorer prize with both Barcelona [1997] and Real Madrid [2004], Ronaldo Nazario also won two LaLiga Santander titles to go with his two World Cups and two Ballon d’Or trophies. He is now a leading Spanish football figure in a different way, as president and majority shareholder of LaLiga club Real Valladolid, overseeing significant progress on and off the field during his four seasons in charge.

Davor Suker – Real Madrid to Croatian Federation presidency

The highlight of Croatian centre-forward Davor Suker’s time at Real Madrid may have been winning the 1998 Champions League but he also scored an impressive total of 114 goals in 239 LaLiga appearances, having first played four seasons at Sevilla. Elected president of Croatian Football Federation in 2012, Suker oversaw his country’s second-place finish at the 2018 World Cup, while he also has taken leading roles on important committees at both FIFA and UEFA.

David Beckham – Real Madrid to Inter Miami presidency

Another galactico turned team owner is David Beckham, who won many fans and the 2006/07 LaLiga title during his four seasons at the Santiago Bernabeu with Real Madrid. The long-serving England captain also later played in Major League Soccer for LA Galaxy and is now currently president of Inter Miami CF, a new team in MLS for the 2020 season. 

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Andrés Iniesta – FC Barcelona to Vissel Kobe
What can we say about Andres Iniesta? A fixture in the middle of the park for much of Messi’s LaLiga career, the mercurial midfielder racked up 442 league appearances – along with nine LaLiga titles and four Champions League trophies – for Barcelona before leaving for Japanese J-League side Vissel Kobe in 2018. He also famously scored the winning goal for Spain in the 2010 World Cup final against the Netherlands. Not a bad career…

Deco – FC Barcelona to footballers agent
A mainstay in the Barcelona midfield after arriving in the Camp Nou in 2004, the Brazilian-born Portugal international made 113 league appearances for the club. He moved on after the arrival of Pep Guardiola in the Barça dugout in 2008, first to Chelsea in England before ending his career in Brazil with Fluminense. He stayed in Brazil after retirement, working as a player agent and even starting his own representation agency. 

Iker Casillas – Real Madrid to Real Madrid Foundation as deputy to the general director
Another all-time great of the game, San Iker (Saint Iker) captained Real Madrid until 2015 and would go on to lead Spain to an unprecedented World Cup (2010) and European Championship double (2008 & 2012). In May of 2019, a heart attack brought his time on the pitch to an abrupt end and he had to retire. He was about to stand for the elections to the presidency of the Spanish Federation, he is LaLiga Ambassador and since December 2020 he is deputy to the general director of the Real Madrid Foundation. 

Roberto Carlos – Real Madrid to TV commentator
Perhaps the greatest left-back of all time, Roberto Carlos stayed for just one more season after Zidane’s departure before leaving himself, initiating the breakup of the so-called galacticos team of the mid-00s. The Brazilian became somewhat of a journeyman after leaving the Bernabeu, spending time with Fenerbahçe, Corinthians, Anzhi Makhachkala and Delhi Dynamos. He went on to coach the latter two, as well as taking charge at Sivasspor and Akhisar Belediyespor. He’s now returned as an Ambassador at Real Madrid, commentator for Real Madrid TV and, since 2021, commentator for Movistar TV.

Júlio Baptista – Real Madrid to Real Valladolid ‘B’ coach
The talented Brazilian forward went on to play at Arsenal, Malaga, Roma, Cruzeiro and Orlando City before retiring following a single appearance for CFR Cluj in Romania in 2018. Fondly remembered across Spain as one of the greatest LaLiga imports of the early 21st century, he’s now a LaLiga Ambassador and coach of the Real Valladolid ‘B’ team.  

Raúl – Real Madrid to Real Madrid Castilla coach
Raúl remains one of the club’s all-time great players. After leaving Los Blancos four years later with 228 LaLiga goals in 550 games between 1994 and 2010, he went on to play at Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga before winding down his career with Al Sadd in Qatar and New York Cosmos in the USA. Currently the head coach of the club’s reserve side, Real Madrid Castilla. 

Gaizka Mendieta – FC Barcelona to DJ

Gaizka Mendieta wowed fans of Valencia CF and FC Barcelona during the late 1990s and early 2000s with his skill and creativity on the ball, with a standout moment being the fantastic solo goal for Los Che as they beat Atletico Madrid in the 1999 Copa del Rey final. After retirement, his musical talents came to the fore, first as a guitarist in Spain-based indie band Gasteiz Gang, and more recently as a renowned DJ playing club nights in London, Ibiza and the Champions League final cities each year. The Bilbao-born also finds time to work as an official LaLiga ambassador.

Víctor Valdés 
The Catalan goalkeeper knew Messi from their time together at La Masia and made almost 400 first-team appearances for the club in LaLiga between 2002 and 2014. Remembered as one of the finest keepers in club history, he finished his career with brief spells at Manchester United, Standard Liege and Middlesbrough. After retiring he moved into coaching and briefly took charge of Barça’s Juvenil A (U19) youth side in 2019. 

Carles Puyol
Carles Puyol, the ultimate one-club man. The Barça icon retired in 2014 with six LaLiga and three Champions League titles and briefly returned to the club as assistant to director Andoni Zubizarreta until 2015. Puyol came close to a return to the club as sporting director in 2019 and is often touted for a future role in the club’s administrative set-up. He’s also spent time as a player agent and LaLiga Ambassador since retirement. 

Rafael Márquez
Rafael Márquez played until the age of 38, spending time in the USA, Italy and his native Mexico after leaving Barcelona after a seven-year spell in 2010. He made his final professional appearance at the 2018 World Cup, a record-breaking fifth tournament for Mexico at football’s showpiece competition. Following retirement, he worked as a sporting director at Mexican club Atlas, the side he made his first-team debut with, leaving at the end of 2019. Marquez has since stated that he’d be interested in getting into coaching. 

Samuel Eto'o
Undoubtedly one of the best strikers of his generation and possibly the greatest African player of all time, Eto’o scored 108 goals in 144 LaLiga appearances for Barcelona. After leaving the Camp Nou in 2010, he went on to play for the likes of Inter Milan, Anzhi Makhachkala and Chelsea, ending his career last year with almost 300 top-flight goals. He’s now a LaLiga Ambassador, representing the league around the world. 

Ronaldinho
One of the greatest players of the 21st century, Ronaldinho danced and dribbled his way into the hearts of football fans around the world while at Barcelona. He left the Camp Nou when Pep Guardiola arrived in 2008 and went on to play for AC Milan – where he won the Scudetto in 2010 – before spells in Brazil and Mexico. A fixture in legends games since his last game in 2015, Ronaldinho retired as one of only seven players to have won the World Cup, Champions League and the Ballon d’Or. The Brazilian made headlines more recently with a bizarre stint in a Paraguayan prison for allegedly entering the country with a false passport. 

Frank Rijkaard
Rijkaard’s coaching career is an odd one. He put Barcelona back on track after years of instability and lack of success, led the club to LaLiga and Champions League titles and handed Lionel Messi his debut. But he only ever really achieved success at Camp Nou. The Dutchman later had stints in charge of Galatasaray and the Saudi Arabia national team, in addition to his prior experience in charge of the Netherlands and Sparta Rotterdam, but it was only ever at Barcelona that it all clicked. Today, Rijkaard is out of the game, living in Amsterdam. 

Robinho
The last club of the mercurial Brazilian was Santos, the same where he grew, but it lasted just 6 days. Since then -October 2020- he belongs to no club. Robinho helped Real Madrid to back-to-back LaLiga titles in 2006/07 and 2007/08 before making a big-money move to Manchester City in the summer of 2008 and continuing his career in England, Italy, Brazil, China and then Turkey.

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