Manchester City great and Belgian international defender Vincent Kompany has retired at the age of 34 to become manager of Anderlecht on a four-year contract. Kompany joined Anderlecht from City in 2019 as player-manager, and now takes over from Franky Vercauteren, who had been handling coaching duties, in a purely managerial role. "I want to fully commit to my role as a coach and need 100 per cent of my time and focus for it. That's why I'm quitting as a football player," said Kompany, who enjoyed a trophy-laden 11-year spell in England with City. "Our ambition and our hunger remains the same. I want to stay with the club for at least four seasons and prove that Anderlecht can play a modern style of football, with results." Kompany's first game in charge will come on Sunday when Anderlecht take on Mouscron. As defender and captain at City, Kompany won four Premier League titles, two FA Cups and four League Cups with City and is widely regarded as one of the club's greatest ever players. After making his international debut as a 17-year-old, he went on to play 89 times for Belgium, notably leading them to third in the 2018 World Cup. Anderlecht chief executive Karel Van Eetvelt added: "As everybody knows, this was always the plan. "It might have come a little sooner than expected, but Vincent committing himself for another four seasons to the club is great news for the club, our supporters and our players."
