Former Arsenal midfielder Rosicky ends professional career

FILE PHOTO - Football Soccer - Czech Republic v Croatia - EURO 2016 - Group D - Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-?tienne, France - 17/6/16 Czech Republic's Tomas Rosicky celebrates at the end of the match REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff Livepic

PRAGUE (Reuters) - Former Arsenal midfielder and Czech national side playmaker Tomas Rosicky -- dubbed "Little Mozart" for his vision and pinpoint passing -- ended his professional career on Wednesday after years of injuries often kept him off the pitch.

Rosicky, 37, retired at Sparta Prague where he began his career before moving to Borussia Dortmund in 2001 and to Arsenal in 2006 where he played for a decade. He returned to Sparta in 2016 but only appeared 12 times due to injury.