Park Ji-sung announces retirement

Former Manchester United and PSV Eindhoven midfielder Park Ji-sung announced his retirement from football on Wednesday.

The 33-year-old, who represented South Korea 100 times at international level, revealed his decision at the JS Football Center in Seoul – the headquarters of Park’s own foundation, which helps develop football infrastructure around the world.

Park spent the past season at PSV – his first European club – on loan from QPR and made 27 appearances across all competitions, scoring two goals as the Dutch side finished fourth in the Eredivisie.

But the South Korean, who captained his country from 2008 until his retirement from international football in 2011, made his name at United in the Premier League, playing 203 matches in all competitions and scoring 28 goals between 2005 and 2012, when he moved to QPR.

The high-energy midfielder was a favourite of former United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who particularly liked using Park in the UEFA Champions League when he wanted to shut down opposition full-backs.

Park won the Premier League four times with United and was also part of their Champions League title-winning team in 2008.

Having started his professional career with Kyoto Purple Sanga, Park won the 2002 Emperor’s Cup with the Japanese outfit, before claiming two Eredivisie titles with PSV in his first stint in the Netherlands.