Oscar dos Santos Emboaba Junior, better known as Oscar, has decided to hang up his boots. The Brazilian midfielder, with a past at clubs such as Chelsea and prolonged experience in China, announced on Saturday his retirement from professional soccer at the age of 34.
The Brazil international had been inactive since November after suffering a vasovagal syncope in training with Sao Paulo, his first and last professional team. Since then, Oscar had not played a single minute with his team. Until Saturday, when the Rio de Janeiro native announced his retirement from professional soccer.
“I wanted to give more for Sao Paulo, I wanted to play more. I think I had as much football as I had age to keep playing, but unfortunately this has happened. Now I’m going to retire and I will continue to cheer for Sao Paulo, I will continue with my life as a fan. I am putting an end to a career that has taken me to many places, practically all over the world. I want to thank everyone for the affection they have always shown me, all the Sao Paulo fans who have supported me since my return and in this difficult moment I am going through,” said the statement from the Brazilian club, with which Oscar had a contract until 2027.
Oscar retires after playing 556 games as a professional, in which he scored 136 goals and 203 assists at club level. Sao Paulo in two stages, Internacional, Chelsea and Shanghai SIPG make up the Brazilian’s career. In addition, he was 48 times international with the Brazilian national team, with which he scored 12 goals. He also was part of his country’s Olympic team at London 2012.
“I could see my son saying ‘Come back, daddy'”
Oscar was given the scare of his life when last November he suffered a blackout during a training session that made him fear the worst. The player himself recalled with harshness what he felt at that moment.
“I’m better now to talk about this, every time I talked about these things, I got quite emotional. I took the test, then I ended up fainting, the heart, right?, my blood pressure was dropping, the heart was stopping. Then they gave me a cardiac massage, another two minutes. Then I just remember my fainting. Everyone says that when you’re going to die, you leave the body. I had some of those feelings. You are unconscious and you are in a dream that is very good. It’s very fast, isn’t it? And then I could see my son talking, like saying: ‘Come back, dad’.”
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