Eric Abidal announces retirement from international football

Another day, another player retiring from the French national team.

In the same week that Samir Nasri and Franck Ribery announced the end of their tenures with Les Bleus, Eric Abidal is also calling it a day on his international career.

While none of the three retirements are altogether surprising given the respective circumstances of each player, Abidal's decision, which was announced in an interview with Catalan radio station RAC1, was arguably the most expected as he's 34 years old and was omitted from France's World Cup roster despite being healthy (unlike Ribery) and despite being a well-respected teammate (unlike Nasri).

"It is time to close this door," Abidal said. "Not being at the World Cup was a disappointment because I wanted to finish on a good note. The way I struggled as I did today (after liver transplant) was so I could say goodbye to the national team at the World Cup. But that did not happen."

Abidal's career was marred by the diagnosis of a liver tumor in March 2011 that required a transplant. At the time, the French left-back was enjoying enormous success at the club level with Barcelona. He took the pitch for the Catalan club once again in April 2013 but moved to AS Monaco shortly thereafter and will feature for Olympiacos this season.

Since making his debut for France in a friendly against Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2004, Abidal has won 67 international caps and last appeared in a World Cup qualifier versus Ukraine in November. In 2006, he helped France reach the World Cup final as the side's first-choice left-back and converted his penalty in their historic shootout loss to Italy.