da fazobetai： Rio Ferdinand has announced that he’s retired from professional football.
da bet sport： The former Manchester United, Leeds and West Ham centre-back spent the season just gone with QPR, but played infrequently as the Super Hoops slipped to relegation.
Following the drop, the London club announced that they would not be keeping the 36-year-old on, and Ferdinand has made the decision to end his long and glittering career.
He broke the news on BT Sport, and his official statement reads: “After 18 years as a professional footballer, I now feel it’s the right time for me to retire from the game that I love,
“As a 12-year-old boy, kicking around a football on the Friary Estate in Peckham, I never dreamt that I would play for my boyhood club West Ham, captain Leeds United, win the Champions League with Manchester United, or re-join my first manager Harry Redknapp at Queens Park Rangers.
“I will always regard the 81 times that I played for England, with immense pride. These are all treasured memories that will last a lifetime.
“Starting a career, every young man needs mentors. I found mine in Dave Goodwin, the district manager at Blackheath, and Tony Carr, the youth team manager at West Ham. They installed in me personality traits that lasted throughout my career. I will always be grateful to them.
“I’d like to thank Chris Ramsey, Harry Redknapp, David O’Leary and David Moyes who managed me at various times in my career, all the backroom staff who looked after me over the years, and the players that I played with. I would also like to thank the team who managed me off the pitch, Jamie Moralee and everybody at New Era.
“Winning trophies over my 13 years at Manchester United allowed me to achieve everything that I desired in football. From a young child to today, that was all I cared about.
“None of that would have been possible, without the genius of one man, Sir Alex Ferguson. His greatest accomplishment in my eyes will always be how he developed us as men, not just as footballers. He will in my opinion, always be the greatest manager in British football history.
“I’d also like to thank and pay tribute to my wife Rebecca and my family, including my mother and father, for their sacrifices, their encouragement and their advice throughout my career.
“And finally, I’d like to thank all the fans from all the clubs – for without them professional football would not exist. I will miss each and every one of you on my Saturday afternoons.”
Ferdinand won six Premier League titles, the Champions League, the FA Cup and three League Cups during an illustrious time at the very top of the game, and also made 81 outings for England, playing in World Cups and European Championships.
The centre-back missed much of the end of the 2014/15 season to be with his wife, Rebecca Ellison, who died after a battle with cancer earlier this month.
Ferdinand is considered to be one of the finest defenders to have represented United and the Three Lions.
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