Dutch international footballer Giovanni van Bronckhorst, one of the stars of the recent FIFA World Cup in South Africa, ended his career as a professional soccer player on Sunday afternoon in Rotterdam's famous De Kuip stadium, the home base of his team Feyenoord FC.

The final match for Van Brockhorst, now 35, was a friendly against Real Mallorca. Coincidentally, his first match for the Rotterdam club, in 1993, was also against a Spanish club, Barcelona FC.

Van Bronckhorst played 'on loan' for another Dutch team for a short period at the start of his carrer, but played for Feyenoord from 1994 to 1998. He later went on to Scotlands's Glasgow Rangers (1998-2001), English team Arsenal (2001-2003) and FC Barcelona (2003-2007). He returned to play for his original Rotterdam team three years ago.

He was a member of the Dutch national squad on a total of 106 occasions, and captained the team in the recent World Cup, taking the Netherlands to the final match, which they ultimately lost to Spain. 

Feyenoord FC's managing director, Eric Gudde, said on Sunday that Giovanni van Bronckhorst had had "a phenomenal career".