Ex-QPR, Cardiff City and Liverpool star confirms retirement aged 33 | OneFootball

Steven Caulker has confirmed his retirement from football

Steven Caulker has announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 33, bringing an end to one of the most unusual careers English football has seen in recent years.

Caulker confirmed the news on his personal LinkedIn profile, revealing that he is calling time after 17 seasons, playing for 17 different clubs across five countries.

It is a statistic that tells its own story. Few players have experienced as much variety - or instability - as the former centre-back.

A product of Tottenham Hotspur’s academy, Caulker quickly made a name for himself during loan spells with Swansea City and later Cardiff City, where he became a Premier League regular and eventually club captain.

His performances earned him an England call-up in 2012, and he marked his debut in memorable fashion by scoring against Sweden.

From there, his career took a less predictable path. Spells at QPR, Southampton and a short loan at Liverpool followed, before Caulker became something of a footballing nomad, turning out for clubs in Turkey, Scotland and Spain.

Along the way, he also represented Great Britain at the London 2012 Olympics.

Later in his career, Caulker made the decision to play international football for Sierra Leone, going on to captain the national side.

In his retirement message via LinkedIn, Caulker did not shy away from the reality of his journey, describing it as a “rollercoaster” that included both highs and serious lows.

He has previously spoken openly about personal struggles away from football, and those experiences clearly shaped the latter stages of his career.

Speaking to the Guardian previously, Caulker admitted: "I fell out of love with football for a long time,

“When I was suffering from depression and addiction, I completely fell out of love. I couldn’t have imagined anything worse than still being involved. But I managed to rekindle that: I couldn’t really tell you how, it just kind of came back."

Caulker thanked family, friends, coaches and supporters for sticking with him throughout his time in the game.

He now plans to focus fully on coaching, having already worked in player-coach roles, with the aim of helping younger players avoid some of the pitfalls he encountered.