Former Colombia captain Yepes retires at age 40

Published 01/21/2016, 12:54 AM EST

BOGOTA (Reuters) – Former Colombia captain Mario Yepes, who led his country to the 2014 World Cup quarter-finals, announced his retirement on Wednesday.

The 40-year-old central defender, who helped Colombia win the Copa America in 2001 and was capped 102 times, completed his training as a coach after leaving Argentina’s San Lorenzo last year.

“I will remain linked to football in some way, I have my badge as a coach,” Yepes told a news conference in the Colombian city of Cali.

Yepes played for Cortulua and Deportivo Cali in Colombia before joining Argentina’s River Plate and French clubs Nantes and Paris St Germain.

He also had spells in Italy with Chievo Verona, AC Milan and Atalanta.

(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Rex Gowar, editing by Ed Osmond)

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.