Dugarry bids bye

Former international striker Christophe Dugarry, who had his fans and his detractors, has become France's eighth World Cup winner to retire from football.

The 32-year-old won everything internationally with France's golden generation however many said he said he should never have been in the team and others charged he was a showy player with no real strengths.

Yet he still went on to win the 1998 World Cup, the 2000 European championships and played for great European clubs such as AC Milan and Barcelona.

Dugarry is the eighth French World Cup winner to completely retire from the sport after Lionel Charbonnier, Stephane Guivarc'h, Alain Boghossian, Bernard Lama, Laurent Blanc, Didier Deschamps and Emmanuel Petit.

The striker, who comes from the Bordeaux region and earned 55 caps for his country, announced at the start of this month his contract with a Qatari club had been terminated and he wanted to play for a French team.

He was contacted by Portuguese giants Benfica but eventually announced his retirement in an interview with Tuesday's edition of sports daily L'Equipe.

"I made my decision four or five days ago, even though the best offer I had came from Benfica," said Dugarry, who added he was completely over knee problems which had nothing to do with the decision.

He said his decision was finally sealed by the desire not to play outside France for personal reasons, his children settled in school in the Bordeaux area.

Dugarry often aroused controversy both because of his game, by playing in no man's land between a striker's, a midfielder's or a winger's position, and by his provocative personality.

Dugarry began his professional career at Bordeaux (1988-1996) then went to AC Milan (1996-1997), Barcelona (July 1997 to December 1997), Marseille (January 1998 to December 1999), then back to Bordeaux (December 1999 to January 2003), to Birmingham City (January 2003 to March 2004) before finally playing for Qatar Club in the Gulf.