Spanish football coach Luis Aragones, who led his country to victory at the European Championships in 2008, has announced his retirement at the age of 75.

As well as the Spanish national side, Aragones trained ten different clubs during a 35-year coaching career.

He is most fondly remembered at Atletico Madrid with whom he won La Liga in the 1976/77 season and three Copa del Rey titles across three spells in charge.

However, his crowning glory came in Austria and Switzerland in 2008 when he guided the until then perennially underachieving Spanish national side to their first major tournament victory since 1964.

Despite emerging victorious over Germany in the final in Vienna, Aragones stood by his pre-tournament decision to step down as Vicente del Bosque took over to guide Spain to their first World Cup in 2010 before retaining their European title two years later.

Aragones returned to management just once after leaving La Seleccion at Turkish side Fenerbahce, but his reign was short lived as he was sacked in 2009 after a disappointing first season in charge.

"Age has retired me and it wasn't a difficult decision to make," he said in an interview with Spanish website Vozpopuli.com

"Before retiring, when I left Turkey, I knew it was going to be difficult to continue and today I know it is definitive.

"There are many circumstances. Age, where can you coach, how can you coach...there are many things which make you say that it is finished."

Although widely revered in Spain, Aragones' coaching career was not short of controversy, most notably in 2004 when he was accused of using racist language to describe then Arsenal forward Thierry Henry in a bid to motivate Henry's club teammate Jose Antonio Reyes.

Aragones protested his innocence, claiming his words had been misinterpreted, but he was fined 3,000 euros ($4,100, £2,500) by the Spanish Football Federation for the incident.