Japanese great Shinji Ono retired from football at the age of 44 on Sunday, ending a career that saw him become the first player from his country to win a European club trophy.
Ono was part of the Feyenoord team that beat Borussia Dortmund in the 2002 UEFA Cup final, during a successful four-year stint with the Dutch club.
The attacking midfielder was part of a pioneering wave of Japanese players moving to Europe in the late 1990s and early 2000s, along with Hidetoshi Nakata and Kazuyoshi Miura.
Nicknamed “Genius”, Ono made his international debut as an 18-year-old and played for Japan at the 1998 World Cup in France two months later.
He played at three World Cups and won 56 caps, scoring six international goals.
Ono was…
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