Northern Ireland defender Gareth McAuley retires from football

  /  autty

Northern Ireland defender Gareth McAuley has retired from football at the age of 39.

The former West Brom and Rangers man knocked up 203 Premier League appearances and earned 80 caps for his country, scoring in Northern Ireland's first win at the European Championship finals in 2016.

That goal was Northern Ireland's first at a major tournament in 30 years and saw McAuley become the second-oldest scorer at the Euros, before netting an unfortunate own goal in the round-of-16 defeat to Wales.

McAuley, who was awarded an MBE earlier this year for his services to football in Northern Ireland, spent the last season of his career in Scotland with Rangers, making seven appearances.

Prior to joining West Borm in 2011, where he spent the majority of his career, McAuley also played in England with Lincoln, Leciester and Ipswich.

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