One of the most notable names in Philippine football has decided to hang up gloves for good.
Louie Michael Casas, Kaya-Iloilo’s first-choice goalkeeper, announced his retirement as posted by the club’s official website on Monday at the age of 35.
This ends his three-year stint with the club and capping off his almost nine years of playing club football.
“Nagpapasalamat ako sa management, sa teammates ko, sa mga coaches, at lalo na kay boss Paul [Tolentino] na na-experience ko yung family culture ng Kaya FC,” Casas stated.
“At sa lahat ng mga sumusuporta sa Kaya FC, maraming salamat sa inyo! UNA KAYA!”
The standout started his career off not representing the Philippines from the youth levels. He then got his first cap for the senior team in the 2004 Tiger Cup. That, even as he just started playing and studying for San Beda College.
In that edition of the AFF Championship, he even started between the sticks despite being the youngest member of the squad, which at the time was not the Azkals.
Casas continued his studies at the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod. There, he eventually ended with then UFL Division 2 squad and later one of the most dominant squads in Philippine club football – Ceres-La Salle.
After more than ten years, the 5-foot-7 goalkeeper returned to national duty at the 2018 Bangabandhu Cup.
All in all, he had 14 caps with the national team.
In 2018, following the dissolution of Ceres-La Salle, he had a brief stint with Global-Cebu. He then ended with Kaya-Iloilo, which he led into its second Copa Paulino Alcantara Cup just recently.
