Ex-Barça: Ronald de Boer retires

Former Barcelona attacker Ronald de Boer (37) has announced this week the end of his career. After he recovered from a neck injury, he decided to quit with Qatari club Al-Shamal.

De Boer told Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant: "I'm again totally fit but there are only two league games left. It's not really worth to start training and I didn't want to take the risk of getting injured again. So I handed in my contract."

De Boer now wants to stay for a while in Qatar since he's working as an analyst for a local television station. The Dutchman also has an offer to join a youth academy in the country. Besides that, he is considering to follow a coaching course.

De Boer played in Qatar since 2004, arriving from Glasgow Rangers, first for Al-Rayyan and since 2005 for Al-Shamal. Except for the already mentioned teams, De Boer also played for Dutch clubs Twente and Ajax Amsterdam. Ronald de Boer compiled 67 caps for the Dutch national team. In 1995 he won the Champions League with Ajax.

Ronald de Boer played for Barcelona from January 1999 (arriving together with his twin brother, central defender Frank De Boer, after a heavy transfer dispute with Ajax) until the summer of the year 2000, when he left for Scottish top club Glasgow Rangers due to a lack of playing time. Ronald de Boer won one Spanish league title with Barcelona in 1999.

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