Record-breaking captain Rooney to quit England in 2018

Wayne Rooney, who last year overtook Sir Bobby Charlton's long-standing record by scoring his 50th England goal, is to retire from international football after the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The Manchester United player, 30, made the announcement after being reappointed as England captain by new manager Sam Allardyce ahead of the start of their European Qualifiers in Slovakia on Sunday.

Rooney, then with Everton, made his England debut more than 13 years ago and opened his national-team account on his sixth outing, a UEFA EURO 2004 qualifier against FYR Macedonia. With that effort in Skopje, Rooney had become his nation's youngest-ever scorer at 17 years and 317 days – a record that still stands.

He made it to 50 goals against Switzerland in September and is now up to 53 after scoring in England's UEFA EURO 2016 round of 16 loss versus Iceland, a day when Rooney equalled David Beckham's team record of 115 outfield caps. Rooney is now only ten short of England's most-capped player, goalkeeper Peter Shilton.

Wayne Rooney on his plans
"Realistically Russia will be my last opportunity to do anything with England so I'm going to try and enjoy these two years. Hopefully I can end my time playing for England on a high.

"Whether I was captain or not I was still going to be available for selection and I'd still be the same with the players. Of course, it's a huge honour to captain your country and I'm grateful to Sam for giving me that opportunity."

Wayne Rooney's England records
Most goals: 53
Most competitive goals: 37
Most goals in a World Cup qualifying campaign: 9
Youngest goalscorer: 17 years 317 days
Most outfield caps: 115 (joint with David Beckham)
Most competitive appearances: 70
Appeared at most FIFA World Cup finals: 3 (joint with 13 others)
Apppeared at most UEFA EURO finals: 3 (joint with five others)
Most appearances at new Wembley: 34

Goal by goal...
Debut: England 1-3 Australia, 12/02/03 (friendly)

England goals
1 FYR Macedonia 1-2 England, 06/09/03 (UEFA EURO 2004 qualifier)
1 England 2-0 Liechtenstein, 10/09/03 (UEFA EURO 2004 qualifier)
1 England 2-3 Denmark, 16/11/03 (friendly)
2 England 6-1 Iceland, 05/06/04 (friendly)
2 England 3-0 Switzerland, 17/06/2004 (UEFA EURO 2004 group stage)
2 Croatia 2-4 England, 21/06/04 (UEFA EURO 2004 group stage)
1 Denmark 4-1 England, 17/08/05 (friendly)
1 England 3-2 Argentina, 12/11/05 (friendly)
1 Netherlands 1-1 England, 15/11/06 (friendly)
1 England 3-0 Estonia, 13/10/07 (UEFA EURO 2008 qualifier)
1 Russia 2-1 England, 17/10/07 (UEFA EURO 2008 qualifier)
1 Croatia 1-4 England, 10/09/08 (2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier)
2 England 5-1 Kazakhstan, 11/10/08 (2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier)
2 Belarus 1-3 England, 15/10/08 (2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier)
2 England 4-0 Slovakia, 28/03/09 (friendly)
1 Kazakhstan 0-4 England, 06/06/09 (2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier)
2 England 6-0 Andorra, 10/06/09 (2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier)
1 England 5-1 Croatia, 09/09/09 (2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier)
1 Switzerland 1-3 England, 07/09/10 (UEFA EURO 2012 qualifer)
2 Bulgaria 0-3 England, 02/09/11 (UEFA EURO 2012 qualifer)
1 England 1-0 Ukraine, 19/06/12 (UEFA EURO 2012 group stage)
2 England 5-0 San Marino, 12/10/12 (2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier)
1 Poland 1-1 England, 17/10/12 (2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier)
1 England 2-1 Brazil, 06/02/13 (friendly)
1 San Marino 0-8 England, 22/03/13 (2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier)
1 Montenegro 1-1 England, 26/03/13 (2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier)
1 Brazil 2-2 England, 02/06/13 (friendl)
1 England 4-1 Montenegro, 11/10/13 (2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier)
1 England 2-0 Poland, 15/10/13 (2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier)
1 Ecuador 2-2 England, 04/06/14 (friendly)
1 Uruguay 2-1 England, 19/06/14 (2014 FIFA World Cup group stage)
1 England 1-0 Norway, 03/09/14 (friendly)
1 England 5-0 San Marino, 09/10/14 (UEFA EURO 2016 qualifier)
1 Estonia 0-1 England, 12/10/14 (UEFA EURO 2016 qualifier)
1 England 3-1 Slovenia, 15/11/14 (UEFA EURO 2016 qualifier)
2 Scotland 2-3 England, 18/11/14 (friendly)
1 England 4-0 Lithuania, 27/03/15 (UEFA EURO 2016 qualifier)
1 Slovenia 2-3 England, 14/06/15 (UEFA EURO 2016 qualifier)
1 San Marino 0-6 England, 05/09/15 (UEFA EURO 2016 qualifier)
1 England 2-0 Switzerland, 08/09/15 (UEFA EURO 2016 qualifier)
1 England 2-0 France, 17/11/15 (friendly)
1 England 2-1 Australia, 27/05/16 (friendly)
1 England 1-2 Iceland, 27/06/16 (UEFA EURO 2016 round of 16)