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Former Exeter City defender Christian Ribeiro has announced his retirement from football.

The 27-year-old, who made over 70 appearances for the Grecians, has been forced to call time on his playing career due to a knee injury.

Ribeiro left St James Park in 2016, and signed for League One side Oxford United, but only made 17 appearances for them.

Playing predominately as a right-back, Ribeiro made 188 career appearances that also saw him play for the likes of Scunthorpe and Bristol City.

(Image: Pinnacle)

The Welshman signed for City in 2014, and would score six goals for the club, and quickly became a fan-favourite.

“It has been really, really tough ; the hardest decision I have ever had to make,” Ribeiro spoke about his decision.

“But I have to do what is right in the long term and therefore, sadly, I am going to have to hang up my boots.

“I have always given my all for the team throughout my career but unfortunately over the past couple of months since incurring an issue, I knew that something wasn’t right.

“I was playing in severe pain and really struggling to recover. The medical team here (Oxford) have been brilliant but eventually it got to the stage where I had to see a specialist and unfortunately the damage was worse than we had hoped.



“There have been many highs and lows since I started playing, with so many great memories. The opportunity to represent my country being right up there at the top, and I will always treasure those.

“At the same time, I now move on to a new chapter and must figure out what I do next. I have a number of options to deliberate over before making the next step and to start again.”