Los Angeles FC and Wales national team winger Gareth Bale said on Monday he had decided to end his playing career at the age of 33. Bale had set a Wales record with 41 international goals.

Bale played a Wales record of 111 games for his country and was a five-time Champions League winner with Real Madrid. He helped the Welsh reach the 2016 and 2020 Euros before leading them in their first World Cup since 1958 at Qatar 2022.

"After careful and thoughtful consideration, I announce my immediate retirement from club and international football," Bale said on Twitter.

"I feel incredibly fortunate to have realized my dream of playing the sport I love. It has truly given me some of the best moments of my life.

"The highest of highs over 17 seasons, that will be impossible to replicate, no matter what the next chapter has in store for me."

Bale’s last match was a 3-0 loss to England at the World Cup on Nov. 29, his 111th international appearance.

Bale also said he is retiring from club football. He scored 53 Premier Leagues goals and 81 in La Liga, finishing last season by helping Los Angeles win the Major League Soccer title. Bale won five Champions League titles, three Spanish league titles, one Copa del Rey and one League Cup.

"I move on with anticipation to the next step in my life. A time of change and transition, an opportunity for a new adventure."

Bale started his senior career at then Championship side Southampton, which introduced the 17-year-old to professional football before he moved to Tottenham Hotspur two years later.

After six seasons in the Premier League, Bale was signed by Real Madrid for a fee reported by British media as a world record of 100 million euros ($107.45 million).

"From my very first touch at Southampton to my last with LAFC and everything in between, shaped a club career that I have an immense pride and gratitude for," Bale added.

"Playing for and captaining my country 111 times has truly been a dream come true."

The player released a separate statement to bid farewell to the Welsh fans and team, saying his decision to retire from international football had been "by far the hardest of my career."

"The fortune of being Welsh and being selected to play for and captain Wales, has given me something incomparable to anything else I've experienced.

"I am honored and humbled to have been able to play a part in the history of this incredible country, to have felt the support and passion of the red wall, and together (we) have been to unexpected and amazing places.

"I shared a dressing room with boys that became brothers, and back room staff that became family."

Bale broke the previous Wales record of 28 goals set by Ian Rush. Bale’s appearances also are a Wales record. He has won Wales’ player of the year award six times.

He joined Los Angeles FC from Real Madrid last June and helped his new team win the MLS championship, scoring a 128th-minute equalizer in the final. LA went on to beat Philadelphia on penalty kicks.

Bale played for Southampton (2006-07), Tottenham (2007-13, 2020-21) and Real Madrid (2013-22).

He joined Real Madrid after scoring a career-high 21 Premier League goals for Spurs in 2012-13. He scored double-digit league goals in four of his first five seasons with Madrid.

LAFC paid tribute to their star forward.

"We want to thank Gareth for everything he brought to our club," LAFC co-president and general manager John Thorrington said. "He arrived here with a goal to win championships in LA and, like he has done everywhere else in his career, he succeeded.

"It was an honor to have one of the most talented, dynamic and exciting players of his generation finish his career with a title for LAFC."

Tottenham tweeted: "Congratulations on an incredible career."