Former Barcelona star Jeremy Mathieu opens up on why he started working in sports shop after retirement

In April 2025, former Barcelona defender Jeremy Mathieu went viral after retirement when pictures emerged of him working in a sports shop.

Mathieu, who joined from Valencia in 2014, went on to play 91 times for Barca and won two La Liga titles as well as the Champions League alongside greats like Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta.

The Frenchman, who scored the winner in an El Clasico victory over Real Madrid, then went on to sign for Portuguese giants Sporting CP - where he made over 100 appearances and won three trophies in Lisbon.

An ACL injury in a training session in June 2020 ultimately put an end to his career earlier than Mathieu had intended.

Years later, he appeared in Intersport uniform in a store located in Cabries-Plan de Campagne, near Aix-en-Provence.

Mathieu posed for a picture with two young fans in the store and the image quickly circulated. Fans were stunned to see the 42-year-old working in the sports chain but there was no explanation given for how he had ended up in the job.

Jeremy Mathieu explained why he chose to work at sports shop

That information remained private until Mathieu went on the BeIN Sports programme Safe Play and revealed all about his change of career to sales assistant - explaining it was not for financial reasons.

Jeremy Mathieu poses with two fans in a sports shop. Image: X@BarcaUniversal

"If I'm working at Intersport, it's because something's going on that's causing me a lot of problems," he said.

"I can only say that I'm in the middle of a lawsuit. I will not do it forever. It was to have a social life."

Mathieu suffered from depression following his retirement from the game and did try and play at amateur level with Luynes Sports in Regional 2.

It was Loic Loval-Landre, his former teammate at Sochaux, who helped him find the job at Intersport after noticing his struggles and becoming aware that he would rarely leave his house.

"He knew I wanted to leave the house for a bit," Mathieu confirmed.

"I had been doing nothing for a while. We were chatting, and he told me there was a vacant position."

Former Barcelona star Jeremy Mathieu opened up on life after retirement in new interviews

Mathieu reportedly earned £100,000-a-week during his time at Barcelona, but there are no suggestions that he lost earnings - just that he took the job to find a degree of happiness again.

He recently took part in a new interview with So Foot where he again opened up about his mental health issues, stating: "I went through a depression, there's no denying it. I missed the pitch, the locker room, everything we'd experienced. I didn't have time to prepare for my post-playing career because of this injury. I thought I'd still be playing for two more years, so mentally, I struggled to accept the situation.

"Luckily, my wife was there to help me through it. I didn't know what to do anymore. I was completely lost."

He went on to admit that he would "get up from the sofa, walk around my house and sigh". The job at Intersport helped him get out of the difficult period.

He stated: "This job allowed me to regain my strength, rebuild a social life, and ultimately, start living again. My wife also took on some odd jobs; things were going smoothly. Before that, we were together all the time, and it was becoming increasingly difficult. Working separately was good for both of us. I also reconnected with friends."

Mathieu found the camaraderie amongst colleagues to be similar to that of the dressing room, and he regularly enjoyed playing football in the stockroom even though it wasn't allowed.

Addressing the negative reaction to the viral image of him in a regular job, he said: "It's petty. Most of these people are behind their computers. They don't know my life or what I've been through. They only see the money, never the human side. Many wrote that I was broke and hadn't invested anything. When customers ran into me at Intersport, some would also ask, 'Why are you here? You were in Barcelona, ​​you must have loads of money!' But that had nothing to do with it."

At first, he worked as a salesman before leaving to take up a role in the academy set-up at Sochaux. When it didn't work out, he returned to Intersport as assistant to the head of the football section.

Close friends with Bruno Fernandes from their time together at Sporting, Mathieu is working on his coaching badges and currently manages the Under-15 side at Aix-en-Provence.

His goal is to work in a youth academy once he completes his qualification.