Ex-Arsenal goalkeeper Emma Byrne has announced her retirement from football on Twitter.

The 38-year-old Irish goalkeeper spent 16 years with the Gunners, after initially joining in 2000. During this time she won almost everything possible.

She won the Champions League, 11 league titles (two in the WSL, nine in the previous Premier League National Division), nine FA Cups, three WSL Cups and five Premier League Cups.

Overall, she was incredibly successful with Arsenal. The highlight of this time is surely be the quadruple achieved by the team in 2007, when Arsenal won everything on offer to them. At the end of 2016 she was released by the club, and joined Brighton & Hove Albion for the 2017 season.

Emma also had a very impressive career with the Republic of Ireland, collecting 134 caps across 21 years. She was also the captain of the team up to her retirement. Unfortunately, Ireland were not as well placed to make use of her talents as Arsenal, and haven’t yet managed to qualify for a major tournament.

But Byrne had only positive things to say about her time with her country as she announced her retirement, talking of her pride at carrying the flag around the world and the happiness that wearing the shirt gave her.

The official Arsenal Women twitter account has commented on the news, thanking her for everything that she gave the club over the years, and congratulating her on her footballing career.

https://twitter.com/ArsenalWFC/status/893439905715691521

We wish Emma the best with the next stage of her career. Her full statement can be read in the tweet below: