Les Bleus' midfielder Christian Karembeu, who was an integral member of the 1998 World Cup, Euro 2000, and the 2001 Confederations Cup winning France team, has announced his retirement from football.

"I have no regrets," said the 34-year-old midfielder, who has been without a club since his French club side Bastia were relegated to Ligue 2 at the end of last season.

"I am stopping my career now and I will keep following football my way," he said on the French radio station RMC."I have no regrets, this is a well-thought out decision. I just want to start another career… I also want to take care of myself and of my family”.

"I had not yet announced it officially, now it's done", he continued, "I now have a lot of time for myself. I have been playing football for 17 years, it's time for me to do something else."

Karembeu, who was born in the French Pacific archipelago of New Caledonia, won a total of 53 caps for France, scoring one goal.

After five seasons at Nantes, he embarked on a European journey that took him to Italian Serie A side Sampdoria, Spain’s Real Madrid, on to English Premiership club Middlesbrough, to Greece to serve with Olympiakos, and finally back to France with Servette.

He returned to France last year, joining Bastia, but could not prevent the club going down.

Karembeu was a French champion with Nantes in 1995 and was a member of the Real Madrid team who won the Champions League in 1998. He also won two Greek Championship titles with Olympiakos in 2002 and 2003.

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