Argentine forward Gonzalo Higuain brought the curtain down on his illustrious career on Monday night after Inter Miami's defeat to New York City FC in the Major League Soccer playoffs, declaring: "The dream is over."
Higuain, 34, announced his decision to retire earlier this month but was unable to add to the 11 major club trophies he has won throughout his career after Miami's 3-0 loss at Citi Field.
Following the final whistle, a tearful Higuain stood hunched over in silence for several minutes.
"I felt like what I had loved the most as a job had ended. It was half my life, my career, 17-and-a-half years," Higuain said.
"Images from my entire career came to my mind. What I lived, what I worked, what I experienced and I'm leaving very happy because I gave it all until today. That's the most important thing.
"The dream is over and another life begins."
Higuain began his career at River Plate before making a name for himself at Real Madrid, Napoli and Juventus, moving to Inter Miami in 2020. He scored over 300 goals in his club career and 31 times for Argentina.
During his time at Napoli, Higuain scored 36 league goals in the 2015/16 season to equal Gino Rossetti's 87-year-old record for most goals in a single Italian top-flight season.
Higuain, who won three La Liga titles and the Copa del Rey with Madrid and three Serie A crowns and two Coppa Italias during his time at Juventus, said that his biggest achievement was being known as a "good person" throughout his career.
He added that he was interested in working in the "mental coaching" side of the sport.
"It is the most important part of the game," Higuain said. "You can have all the skill and all the talent but if you aren't right mentally, it doesn't count for much."
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What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
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Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)
The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
