Former Wales striker Sam Vokes is set to retire from football at the end of the 2025/26 season.

Vokes, 36, confirmed that he will finish playing after Gillingham’s League Two encounter with Shrewsbury Town on Saturday, bringing an end to a career spanning two decades.

“It’s been 20 years since my debut and after 750 appearances, including 64 caps for Wales, this Saturday’s match at Gillingham will be my last,” Vokes wrote in a post on social media.

“I feel now is the right time to retire from a career I have absolutely loved.”

The Wales striker made his international debut in 2008, having scored on his U21s debut after just 36 seconds the year before.

Vokes scored his first senior international goal when he netted the winner in a 1–0 win over Azerbaijan in their opening 2010 World Cup qualifier on 6 September 2008, striking seven minutes before the end at the Millennium Stadium.

His most memorable display in a Wales shirt came from the bench, scoring the game-clinching goal against Belgium in the quarter-finals of the 2016 European Championship.

The physical forward ended his Wales career in 2019, having won 64 caps and scored 11 goals.

Vokes began his professional club career at Bournemouth, making his debut aged 17 in December 2006. In his second season, he scored 12 league goals, catching the eye of Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he signed in 2008.

His early twenties saw him go on loan to several Championship sides, including Leeds United, Bristol City, Sheffield United, Norwich City, Burnley, and Brighton & Hove Albion.

In 2012, he moved away from Wolves on a permanent deal, signing for Burnley, where he would play for seven seasons. Vokes scored 62 goals in 258 games for the Lancashire side, and was part of sides that were promoted to the Premier League twice in 2014 and 2016.

At the back end of his career, the Southampton-born striker played for Stoke City, Wycombe Wanderers, and finally Gillingham.

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