Humiliated after AFCON, Aubameyang announces international retirement with Gabon

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is turning his back on the Gabon national team. The 37-year-old striker announced on Tuesday his withdrawal from the national squad during an interview with the show « Talents d’Afrique », citing the treatment he suffered after the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.

Gabon endured a catastrophic group stage at the last Africa Cup of Nations, suffering three defeats in three matches and returning home without a single point. In the aftermath, the Gabon government singled out Aubameyang as one of those responsible for this fiasco and excluded him from the squad, before reversing course and reinstating him. Bruno Ecuele Manga was also sidelined, and the technical staff was dismissed shortly after.

« They humiliated and tarnished me when I played the AFCON while injured. It’s the straw that broke the camel’s back and I prefer to stop here, » declared the former Gabon captain.

This decision comes nonetheless in a favorable personal context for Aubameyang. Since his arrival at La Corogne, the striker has found the net three times in as many matches, confirming that his legs still respond at the highest level.

It is therefore without its emblematic captain that Gabon’s new manager, Sébastien Migné, will have to build his project and approach the qualifiers for the next Africa Cup of Nations. A chapter closes for a squad that will have to reinvent itself without the man who has been, for years, its face and symbol.