17.02.2015 20:50 h

Olympiakos the right brand for Abidal in new role

Greek champions Olympiakos late Tuesday confirmed press reports that former France international defender Eric Abidal will head the international branding division of the club.

A club statement said that in the coming days an announcement will be made as to the exact duties the 35-year-old former Barcelona star will be expected to undertake and when he will begin his new post.

Olympiakos said that Abidal: "Will help boost siginficantly the profile of Olympiakos on an international level."

Media reports said Abidal will also simultaneously link the academies of Olympiakos with other top European clubs like Barcelona.

Abidal, who returned to playing football after undergoing a liver transplant, retired as a player of Olympiakos in December for "strictly personal reasons" and said then that he was looking at proposals from both Olympiakos and Barcelona.

He joined Olympiakos at the start of this season on a two-year contract, played in nine out of 15 Super League matches and all six Champions League fixtures.

Abidal spent six years with Barcelona but left in 2013, after recovering from the transplant, when he was not offered a new contract.

He was first diagnosed with a liver tumour in March 2011 but remarkably he played the whole of the Champions League final against Manchester United two months later which Barca won 3-1.

A year later he underwent the transplant.

Capped 67 time by France -- he played in all bar one of the games in the 2006 World Cup finals where the French reached the final only to lose in a penalty shoot-out to Italy.

He spent last season with Monaco before moving to Olympiakos.