MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AFP) — Uruguay icon Luis Suarez announced his retirement from international football on Monday, confirming that he will hang up his boots following Friday’s 2026 World Cup qualifier against Paraguay in Montevideo.

“Friday will be my last match for my country,” an emotional Suarez, 37, told a press conference.

“It was not an easy decision to make, but I do it with the peace of mind that I will give my maximum until the very last game of my (Uruguay) career.”

The former Barcelona and Liverpool striker is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation and will retire from international football as Uruguay’s top scorer with 69 goals from 142 appearances.

Suarez, who was infamously kicked out of the 2014 World Cup after being handed a four-month ban for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini, made his debut for Uruguay in 2007.

The Inter Miami forward helped Uruguay capture the 2011 Copa America, where he was named player of the tournament, and would eventually represent the South American country in nine major tournaments.

Suarez said Monday that inspiring Uruguay to that Copa crown had been the highpoint of his career.

“I wouldn’t trade the Copa America title for anything,” he said. “It was the best moment of my career. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

A dynamic, skilful attacker with a lethal eye for goal, Suarez was also never far from controversy.

As well as the biting incident that ended his involvemment in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, he was also one of the villains of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, when his cynical handball on the goal-line denied Ghana what would have been a late winner in the quarter-finals.

Suarez was sent off for that offence and Ghana subsequently missed the ensuing penalty, allowing Uruguay to sneak into the semi-finals after a penalty shoot-out.

Controversy also dogged Suarez throughout his club career, notably in 2011 when he was handed an eight-game ban by authorities in England for allegedly racially abusing Manchester United’s France star Patrice Evra.

Suarez would later help Uruguay qualify for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, and also featured in this summer’s Copa America where he was used largely as a substitute by coach Marcelo Bielsa. He scored his 69th international goal in a third place play-off victory over Canada.