Agencies
London
Former Liverpool and Norway defender John Arne Riise has announced his retirement from football at the age of 35.
The left full-back, a Champions League winner with the Reds in 2005, has made 10 appearances for his first club Aalesund back in his homeland this season.
However, he has decided to walk away from the game after realising he is no longer able to cope with the physical demands of a top-flight league.
"My inner goal was to play football at the Norwegian top level until I was 40. But that is not to be. It stops here," he wrote on his personal website.
"Lately there has emerged a completely new feeling in me that I am no longer strong enough to perform at my best. I like to play football but the motivation is still not strong enough to run the race at the highest level. This body - and this head - has been through so much over the last 20 years," he said.
