NI and Rangers midfielder Davis announces retirement

Davis has scored 12 goals for Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland and Rangers midfielder Steven Davis has retired after being sidelined for over a year with a knee injury.

He made his Northern Ireland debut in 2005 and scored 13 times for his country.

Davis was in his second spell at Rangers after also playing for Aston Villa, Fulham and Southampton.

He had a spell as interim manager of Rangers following the sacking of Michael Beale in October.

Lawrie Sanchez was the manager when the then-Aston Villa man made his first Northern Ireland appearance in a surprise 1-0 friendly defeat against Canada at Windsor Park.

Seven months later Davis played an instrumental role in Northern Ireland's historic giant-killing World Cup qualifier win over England in Belfast, delivering the measured pass for David Healy's goal in the 1-0 victory.

Davis was also in Sanchez's midfield for the 3-2 home victory over Spain in 2006 and took over the captaincy in 2012.

Steven Davis celebrates scoring for Rangers in the penalty shootout defeat by Eintracht Frankfurt in the 2022 Europa League final

He scored two goals in the 3-0 win over Greece that clinched qualification for the Euro 2016 finals and led the side to the last 16 in France, where they lost 1-0 to Wales.

He broke former England goalkeeper Shilton's UK international caps record of 125 in Northern Ireland's World Cup qualifying 0-0 draw at home to Bulgaria in March 2021.

The County Antrim man made his Villa debut in 2004 before moving to Fulham three years later.

A season at Craven Cottage was followed by four years at Rangers before playing for Southampton from 2012 to 2019.

Davis returned to Ibrox and helped the club win a first Scottish Premiership title in 10 years and play in the Europa League final against Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022.

However, he did not play after sustaining an ACL injury in December 2022.