Soccer-Abidal announces retirement 'for personal reasons'

ATHENS, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Former France defender Eric Abidal, who returned to playing after undergoing a liver transplant in April 2012, announced on Friday he was ending his career for 'personal reasons'. Abidal, 35, made 67 appearances for France and last featured in a World Cup qualifier against Ukraine in November 2013. He had stints at clubs including Barcelona, Olympique Lyonnais, Monaco, and, most recently, Olympiakos Piraeus, and played in the Greek club's 2-0 Super League win at home to Panionios on Wednesday. "Today I announce my decision to end my career here at Olympiakos," Abidal told a news conference in Athens. "The reasons are personal," he added. "Every top-level player understands that there comes a time and my time has come." With Barca, Abidal won the Champions League in 2009 and 2011, as well as four La Liga titles, and was runner-up with France at the 2006 World Cup. He said there was a possibility he will join the Barca or Olympiakos coaching staff in some capacity but would first take a break to spend time with his family. "Now what I want to do is rest and enjoy spending time with my family and then I will take some decisions as far as my future is concerned," Abidal said. (Additonal reporting by Karolos Grohmann, writing by Iain Rogers, editing by Toby Davis)