Vieira retires for City role

Patrick Vieira has retired from playing aged 35 to take a position as a football development executive at Manchester City FC.

According to the UEFA Champions League contenders, the former France and Arsenal FC midfielder "will have a wide-ranging role, helping to deliver the club's social responsibility programme both in the UK and abroad, as well as working closely with City's commercial partners. He will also take an active role in the development of youngsters at the Platt Lane complex."

Vieira said: "This role is a fantastic new challenge for me and I am very grateful to Manchester City for offering me this opportunity. I have a lot to learn about the non-playing areas of the business but there are many very experienced people here for me to learn from and I am confident I can make a significant contribution to the club's ongoing success."

Senegal-born Vieira was City manager Roberto Mancini's first signing when he arrived from FC Internazionale Milano in January 2010. His last-ever appearance was as a substitute in the Sky Blues' 1-0 FA Cup final victory over Stoke City FC at Wembley in May.

Vieira's first-class career began in 1993/94 with AS Cannes before moves to AC Milan in 1995 and Arsenal the following September. It was with Arsenal that the athletic Vieira rose to prominence, helping them win domestic doubles in 1997/98 and 2001/02 and playing a crucial part in their unbeaten Premier League triumph of 2003/04. As at City, his final Arsenal outing came in their 2005 FA Cup success, the fourth time he had lifted that trophy with the London side.

Having left Arsenal for Juventus, Vieira switched to Inter a year later and claimed the Serie A title in each of his three full seasons there. On the international stage he was in the France teams that won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA EURO 2000, where he was named in UEFA's Team of the Tournament. In total he was capped 107 times between 1997 and 2009.