Steven Pienaar has revealed the reason behind the decision to retire from football.

According to the former South African international midfielder, he decided to hang up his boots to spend more time with his family.

The 35-year-old had earlier announced his retirement on Wednesday night after spending almost two decades playing for clubs like Ajax Cape Town, Bidwest Wits, Ajax Amsterdam, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur.

He left South African side Bidwest Wits earlier this year and has decided to call it quit with his football career.

While giving his reason in a chat with soccer laduma, Pienaar said: “Obviously I want to focus on the next step in my career, but I also want to be closer with my family, including my mom who’s not getting any younger. I’ve missed so many years to be with them all, so now I’ve finally got a chance. I just want to enjoy every moment that I can spend with my mom and my kids as well.”

“I’ll be between South Africa and Amsterdam now. That’s how I’ve planned it. I have a daughter and my mom here, and two daughters that side, so I need to balance it out. So we’ll just have to see how it goes in the next few months and take it from there.” he added.

The former Bafana Bafana of South Africa captain further stated that: “I should have an exciting announcement to make in the next couple of months, there are just some final details to be sorted out, but keep an eye on my social media. That’s all I’ll say for now.”

Steven Pienaar is a veteran of two FIFA World Cups with the Bafana Bafana.

He scored three goals in 61 caps for the team in addition to wearing the captain’s armband on numerous occasions.