Diego Benaglio, the shot stopper of the Switzerland national football team, has called time on his international career.

The 30-year old Wolfsburg man remained the no. 1 goalie for his national team for a period of over 10 years. He won a total of 61 caps for Switzerland. Benaglio played his last match in Switzerland jersey last month against Argentina in the pre quarter final round of the FIFA World Cup 2014.

Benaglio had a decent World Cup. He was applauded by the pundits for his work between the sticks, and his place in the Switzerland side was not believed to be in danger in the near future, but, all of a sudden, he came up with this announcement. It might have something to do with the extra commercial commitments he has thesedays now that he has become the face of a live sports odds & results website.

Benaglio is not like one of the old fashioned goalkeepers. He is a bit different.  Apart from being good in diving and all, he is very skilful with his feet too and that’s why, it’s been very hard for the opposition players to beat him. He has always been like a solid rock for Switzerland.

Benaglio is going to pursue his club career though and has been linked to Blackburn. He would be playing for Wolfsburg in the upcoming Bundesliga.

Benaglio has been at Wolfsburg since 2008 and he has been the first choice there since the start. No other keeper has even come close to overtake him in the pecking order at Volkswagen Arena as yet.

Benaglio has already made about 200 league appearances for Wolfsburg. He still has to stay there for two more seasons as per his current contract.

Before having got a break from Wolfsburg, Benaglio used to play for the Portuguese club C.D. Nacional.

It would be interesting to see how Vladimir Petkovic, the new man in charge of the Switzerland national side, reacts at Benaglio’s retirement.