STOCKHOLM: Former Arsenal and Olympique Lyonnais midfielder Kim Kallstrom announced on Friday he is calling time on a football career that stretched over almost two decades “I feel I’m done, and I’ve done what I can on the field,” the tearful 35-year-old told reporters at an emotional news conference in Stockholm. “It’s fun to play matches at the weekend, but you have to be able to do the work during the week. I feel I lack the energy there.” Famed for his powerful and precise left foot, Kallstrom returned to Djurgardens IF in Stockholm in February after a 14-year spell abroad in which he represented Rennes and Lyon in France, Russian club Spartak Moscow and Swiss side Grasshopper. He won the French league and cup with Lyon and added England’s FA Cup in 2014 during an injury-plagued spell on loan at Arsenal, as well as playing 131 games for Sweden and appearing at the finals of three European Championships and one World Cup.
Published in Daily Times, December 16th 2017.