Premier League winner Claudio Ranieri retires from club management, while Olivier Giroud gets set to end France career
- Former Leicester City boss steps away after keeping Cagliari in Serie A, but is still open to coaching at international level
- Giroud, France’s top men’s goal scorer and winner of 2018 World Cup, will call it a day after the European Championship
Premier League winning manager Claudio Ranieri has called time on his career at club level after keeping Cagliari in Serie A, but has left the door open to working with an international side.
Famous for leading Leicester City to a fairy-tale Premier League title in 2015-16, the Italian, 72, performed another “miracle” by avoiding relegation with the Sardinian side.
Ranieri led Cagliari to promotion last season with a winner in the 94th minute of the Serie B play-offs and then unexpectedly kept them up this season.
It was at Cagliari that he made his name as a manager with promotion to Serie A in 1988 and, speaking after clinching survival, he told Sky Italia: “Fate wanted me to finish my career at Cagliari. This is where my club coaching career will end.”
Asked if he was retiring definitely from management, he added: “If I get a call from a national side, not necessarily Italy, I could think about it. But I am closing the door to clubs.”
Ranieri started management in 1986 and won his first major honour in 1996, when he led Fiorentina to the Italian Cup.
He also won the Spanish Cup and Uefa Super Cup with Valencia, as well as the French second tier while at Monaco in 2012-13.
Ranieri managed four teams in the English Premier League, starting with Chelsea in 2000 and ending with stints at Fulham and Watford.
But the most memorable period came with Leicester, leading a club tipped for relegation to the most unexpected of league title victories to imprint his name into English football folklore.
Meanwhile, France striker Olivier Giroud has announced that his career with the national side will end after Euro 2024.
The striker, who will leave AC Milan for Major League Soccer side Los Angeles FC once the European campaign ends, is the leading men’s scorer for Les Bleus with 57 goals in 131 appearances and was part of the 2018 World-Cup-winning squad.
“To be honest, this will be my last competition with Les Bleus. Obviously, I’m going to miss it a lot,” Giroud told L’Equipe in an interview published on Thursday. “But I think the French team will be over after the Euro.
“We need to make way for the youngsters. You also have to be careful not to have one season too many. You have to find the right balance.
“I’ve always said that I was going to stop when my body asked me to. I think I’ve got two good years left. But as far as the French team is concerned, I think that’ll be the end of it.”
Giroud has started two World Cup finals, earning victory against Croatia in 2018 but was on the losing side to Lionel Messi’s Argentina in 2022.
France last won the Euros in 2000 and enter the tournament in Germany as one of the favourites.
