Farewell to a legendary beard: Nat Borchers announces retirement

Portland Timbers defender Nat Borchers, pictured above. (Steve Dipaola/AP)

One of the best beards in sports will no longer grace a professional soccer field.

Portland Timbers defender Nat Borchers announced his retirement on Friday, ending a 14-year career after missing the entire 2016 season with a ruptured Achilles.

While Borchers was a dominant defender and was key to MLS Cup wins for Real Salt Lake and the Portland Timbers, his beard might have been his most obvious attribute.

Fans paid their respects to Borchers’ legendary lumberjack beard after the defender’s announcement.

The beard won’t be going far as Borchers will join the Timbers broadcast team this upcoming season.

More from Sportsnet
Clint-Irwin
Toronto FC, Clint Irwin agree on new contract
Canadian Press
NASL to count Canadians as domestics on American teams
Canadian Press

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.