"Declaring to retire from the national team," Mugosa said, "I'm committed to the team now."

*This content was translated by AI.

Incheon United's foreign striker Stefan Mugosa (34) has announced his retirement from the Montenegrin national team.

"Tomorrow (2 a.m. on the 28th) against Andorra is my last game for the Montenegrin national team," Mugosa said in an interview with local media lobsport on the 27th (Korea Standard Time). "I would like to thank the Montenegrin Football Association and all the coaches, staff, teammates, media, and fans."

Mugosa, who first joined the A national team in 2015, has been a main striker for the Montenegrin national team for more than a decade and scored 15 goals in 64 A matches. In the UEFA Nations League against Romania in 2022, he also achieved an A-match hat trick.

However, Mugosa eventually announced his retirement from the national team after he joined Incheon in 2018 and had to go through a rough schedule in Europe every A-match period, and recently, due to his considerable age, he needed more and more time to recover.

Mugosa said, "We have already talked (retired) since last year. As I got older, it became physically difficult and difficult to recover. Moreover, there are many young and promising strikers who will play for more than 10 years in the national team, he said. "I don't want to remain in the national team in a situation where I can't do my best. (The announcement of retirement) has all been agreed upon," he added.

At the same time, Mugosa also expressed his will to do his best for Incheon, his current team, in line with his retirement from the national team.

Mugosa said, "We have two more years left on the contract (with Incheon). Now, I'm trying to concentrate on the Incheon club as much as possible. Now there will be no long-distance travel, so I'm going to take a break every A-match break and prepare my body for the next game. I want to always express my gratitude to the Incheon club," he said.

Mugosa has already become a hot topic last year when it was revealed that he politely declined to be assigned to the national team in consideration of his team's situation. Incheon, which was a member of the K League 2 at the time, also had an important two-game schedule during the A-match period, and considering the team's competition for promotion at the time, Mugosa politely asked the national team coach and the Montenegrin Football Association to exclude him from calling up the national team.

In addition, considering his considerable age and situation in the national team, Mugosa decided to retire from the national team and expressed his intention to focus on Incheon, which impressed Incheon fans again. Mugosa, who is playing his ninth season in Incheon's uniform, is already in the ranks of K-League legend strikers as well as the club. There are consistent calls among Incheon fans for the establishment of a "Mugosa statue."

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*This content was translated by AI.