Former Liverpool striker retires from football to focus on his DJing
Former Liverpool and France striker Djibril Cisse has announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 35.
Cisse, capped 41 times by his country, had originally called time on his playing career in October 2015 due to a debilitating hip injury but hoped to resurrect his career after having an operation on the problem last year.
He trained with his first club Auxerre in a bid to get fit and earn a contract at a team in his native France but, after failing to attract any suitors, decided to call it quits on his 17-year career.
"I have loved being a footballer" Cisse told Yahoo Sport - where he is set to work as a pundit.
"Up until now, the ball was my whole life. I would have liked to have continued my career, which was interrupted in spite of me, but I have to admit today that football is finished,
"I'm going to give myself body and soul to my career as a DJ, a producer, and as a pundit, as well as develop my line of clothing."
#work #determination @AJA @SCBastia #djime #unlionnemeurtjamais @DjibCisseFans pic.twitter.com/lgdFxG6ouJ
— Djibril Cisse (@DjibrilCisse) October 27, 2016
The much-travelled striker came through the youth system at Auxerre before earning a big-money move to Liverpool in 2007 but following a three-year spell on Merseyside returned to Ligue 1 with Marseille.
He joined Sunderland on loan in 2008 before moving to Greek side Panathinaikos, Lazio, QPR, Russian outfit Kuban Krasnodar and Bastia during an illustrious career which also saw him play in the 2002 and 2010 World Cups.
