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Wayne Rooney will only be a coach in the future
Photo:
John Walton / imago images / PA Images
Wayne Rooney has ended his professional football career for good.
The previous player-coach will be promoted to head coach by the English second division club Derby County.
As the club announced, the 35-year-old will receive a contract until summer 2023.
The record goalscorer for the England national team and Manchester United had led the coaching team since the end of November 2020 after Derby split from then coach Phillip Cocu.
Rooney had played for Derby County since January 2020, but had not played a game since the end of November.
Rooney succeeds Lampard and Cocu
"I've loved every minute of my playing career, but I'm looking forward to the start in management," Rooney wrote on Twitter.
In a club release, he also said it was an honor to follow coaches like Brian Clough, Jim Smith, Frank Lampard and Phillip Cocu.
The current Chelsea coach Lampard had trained Derby County until the summer of 2019.
He can promise everyone in the club, all fans and employees, "that no stone will be left unturned in order to exhaust the potential that I have experienced in this historic football club over the past twelve months."
Derby County is currently third from bottom of the championship and is therefore on a relegation zone.
Under interim coach Rooney, the team brought home three wins and four draws from eleven games.
At the time of the split from Cocu, Derby County was last.
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hba / dpa