Sergio Busquets of Spain will retire from all national team competitions after the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the 34-year-old midfielder announced on Instagram on Friday.

"I'd like to announce that after almost 15 years and 143 games, the moment has come for me to say farewell to the national team," Busquets wrote. "It has been an honor to represent my country and take it to the highest level, to be a world and European champion, to be captain and to have played so many games, with more or less success but always giving everything and bringing my grain of sand so that everything could go as well as possible."

Busquets played an integral role as a member of "La Roja's" most successful generation which won the World Cup championship in 2010 and two UEFA European Championship titles in 2008 and 2012. His departure will mark an official period to that group's era in the national team.

Even in his prime time, Busquets was not a scorer like David Villa or Fernando Torres. Neither was he a strategic commander like Xavi Hernandez, or a creative playmaker like Andres Iniesta. Busquets' duty was more about picking the ball out of the crowd, switching the team between offense and defense, and, in the past four years, sabotaging the opponents' attacks in the midfield.

Busquets' presence was why Barcelona and Spain didn't fall apart completely after Xavi and Iniesta retired, but he couldn't provide the team the decisive play during clutch time. As a result, he could be on the field, making sure that Spain control the ball and the pace in the World Cup. However, there wasn't much else he could do when his teammates in the front field couldn't set up effective offense and score.

Spain finished the World Cup in Qatar when they were eliminated by Morocco over penalties in the Round of 16 competition. In fact, Spain were on their way down since the 7-1 win over Costa Rica in their first game of the tournament as they failed to win any of their three following games.

Spain's manager Luis Enrique stepped down after Qatar. Luis de la Fuente took over the position.