Former Real Madrid and Tottenham attacker Rafael van der Vaart has announced his retirement from football with immediate effect.
The 35-year-old signed with Esbjerg in August but has been plagued by injury, only seeing a total of 55 minutes in the Danish Superliga.
And the 109-times capped Netherlands international, who also played for Ajax, Hamburg, Real Betis and Midtjylland, feels he cannot play on.
I just have to stop now. I m not here to rehabilitate, but to play football, Van der Vaart, who played in his country s World Cup final defeat to Spain in 2010, told De Telegraaf.
I would have wanted to become a football grandpa, but that is not the case. I can only be grateful for all the years I was allowed to play football, all those players, staff, fans of the [Amsterdam] Arena, Volksparkstadion, White Hart Lane, to the Bernabeu.
I just have warm feelings about it. It was a great time.
I won prizes and played championships, both with my clubs, the Dutch national team and individually.
In all those years, I have been able to play football with and against so many great players in the most beautiful stadiums. I had never dared to dream of that as a young boy.
