Chipperfield U-turns on homecoming

Australian veteran Scott Chipperfield will not return home to finish his football career, preferring to stay in Switzerland for family reasons.

The 36-year-old – who has represented his country on 68 occasions – recently retired after 11 years with Swiss outfit FC Basel, in which he won seven league titles and six Swiss Cups.

Earlier this month, Chipperfield signed a short-term deal with Tarrawanna in the Illawarra Premier League as he prepared to return to Australia.

It was widely expected that at the conclusion of his short-term contract with Tarrawanna, he would sign with an A-League club, tipped to be the newly formed Western Sydney Wanderers FC.

But Chipperfield revealed on Twitter on Tuesday night that he would remain in Switzerland and play amateur football.

“I have decided to retire from pro (professional) football & will sign with an amateur team in Basel,” Chipperfield wrote.

“Would have loved to have played for West Syd (Sydney) in there (sic) debut season but due to family reasons I will stay. (I have) been lucky to have had a long & successful career. Look forward to a new challenge.”

In responses to fans, Chipperfield revealed he had spoken to Wanderers FC coach Tony Popovic about joining the club and said he ‘would have liked to worked (sic) with him’.

The versatile player also said he would sign on Wednesday with a team in the country’s third tier.

The news is a blow to Wanderers FC who have signed only three players – Aaron Mooy, Tarek Elrich and Kwabena Appiah-Kubi – with the season just over three months away from beginning.