Marseille (AFP) – The oldest player to feature in France’s Ligue 1 in 71 years Vitorino Hilton announced his retirement aged 43 on Thursday.
Brazilian centre-back Hilton, won the top-fight twice, with Marseille in 2010 and his most recent club Montpellier two years later.
“It has been 24 years of great dedication and love for this sport which has given us a lot of good things,” he said on Instagram.
“It still breaks my heart to know I will no longer go on a field as a professional player,” he added.
Hilton spent a decade at Montpellier in a career which included spells at Lens, Servette, Basta, Parana and his first club Chapecoense.
He played 512 games in Ligue 1, a record for a foreign player in the competition.
According to statistical organisation Opta, Hilton was the oldest player to feature in the league since Troyes’ Roger Courtois in June 1956.
Montpellier said on June they had offered Hilton a position at the club.
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