He follows long-time friend and teammate Maxi Rodríguez in ending his career at Newell’s
Ignacio Scocco announced his retirement from professional football on Sunday evening, hours after the end of Newell’s Old Boys’ 2021 league campaign. The 36-year-old striker was in his fourth spell at La Lepra.
Scocco, who was born in the town of Hughes in Santa Fe, did it all with Newell’s Old Boys, winning a championship at the start of his career in 2004 and winning another on his initial return to his first club in 2013. His versatility and appetite for goalscoring was invaluable to the rojinegro and he scored 79 goals in over 200 appearances for the club. He finishes his career as the 5th highest goalscorer in the history of Newell’s Old Boys.
After leaving Newell’s, he had spells in Mexico, Greece, UAE and Brazil before a regrettable move to Sunderland in the English Premier League in 2014 which ended after just 6 games. His experience in England benefitted the club he holds dearest and he returned to Newell’s once more to lead the line between 2014 and 2017.
His spectacular form in front of goal once again led to a high-profile transfer and he joined River Plate in 2017. Playing under Marcelo Gallardo, he helped the Millionarios win a couple of Copa Argentinas in 2017 and 2019 and played his part in their famous Copa Libertadores victory of 2018. He is and will be held highly in the history of that club for a long time.
Scocco returned to Newell’s for a fourth spell in 2020 where he added another 9 goals to his already impressive collection.
Much like how he carried himself in his career, Scocco announced his retirement subtly, and somewhat unexpectedly, after the final game of the season (in which he didn’t play due to injury) on Sunday night. He bows out without the huge celebration bestowed to Maxi Rodríguez last weekend at the Estadio Marcelo Bielsa but the club and its fans will without doubt want to give Nacho a proper farewell when the season restarts in 2022.
Thank you for everything, Nacho.
