Ben Roethlisberger: Pittsburgh Steelers two-time Super Bowl winner announces his retirement

Roethlisberger throws a pass during his second Super Bowl victory, over the Arizona Cardinals in 2009

Pittsburgh Steelers legendary quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has officially announced his retirement from the sport.

"I don't know how to put into words what the game of football has meant to me.

"But I know with confidence I have given my all to the game," he said.

His "exhilarating journey", which began at the 2004 NFL draft, ended just under a fortnight ago with a Wild Card Round play-off defeat to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.

The Ohio-born passer won the NFL's biggest prize in just his second season at the Steelers, two years after becoming an 11th round draft pick out of Miami University. In beating the Seattle Seahawks in the 2006 Super Bowl he became the youngest quarterback in history to lift the Vince Lombardi trophy, aged just 23.

He repeated the feat three years later, cementing a Steelers dynasty in the 2000s to rival that of the great 1970s side, and taking the franchise to the top of the all-time list of Super Bowl wins, with six. The record was later matched by the New England Patriots and Tom Brady.

He reached a third Super Bowl in the 2010 season, losing to Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.

With much talk over the futures of Brady, 44, and Rodgers, 38, both longstanding, much-decorated quarterbacks who were knocked out of the play-offs last weekend, Roethlisberger's retirement signals a changing of the guard in American football.

Roethlisberger threw for 215 yards in what many knew would be his final game, hitting two touchdowns in a 42-21 defeat to the Chiefs.

His opposing quarterback, Mahomes, 26, the NFL's biggest young star, threw five touchdowns in the game, notching 404 yards overall to set up what turned out to be a classic against the Buffalo Bills and another young gunslinger, Josh Allen, 25.

Joe Burrow, 25, of the Cincinnati Bengals awaits the Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday, while the NFC Championship Game sees 30-year-old Jimmy Garoppolo of the San Francisco 49ers play the LA Rams' Matt Stafford, 33.