RIO FERDINAND HAS announced his retirement from professional football.
The 36-year-old has called time on his 19-year career after being released by QPR earlier this week.
Ferdinand won six Premier League titles, the Champions League, the FA Cup and three League Cup trophies in 12 seasons with Manchester United. He was also capped 81 times by England.
Ferdinand missed the latter stage of QPR’s campaign in order to be with his wife, Rebecca Ellison, who died after a battle with cancer on May 1.
“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,” Ferdinand said in a statement on BT Sport.
“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 is part of BT Sport’s punditry team for today’s FA Cup Final between Arsenal and Aston Villa at Wembley.
