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NFL-All-time scoring leader Vinatieri to retire after 24 seasons

FILE PHOTO: NFL: Indianapolis Colts at Pittsburgh Steelers

(Reuters) - Kicker Adam Vinatieri, the NFL's all-time scoring leader, is retiring after 24 seasons at the age of 48, he said on Wednesday.

The four-times Super Bowl champion, who started his career with the New England Patriots in 1996 before moving to the Indianapolis Colts in 2006, scored 2,673 points including 29 game-winning kicks -- two of which came at Super Bowls.

"By Friday, if paperwork goes in, you heard it here first," Vinatieri said on the Pat McAfee Show which is hosted by Patrick McAfee, his former team mate in Indianapolis.

No kicker has more Super Bowl rings than Vinatieri, who won it three time with the Patriots and once with the Colts.

Considered one of the best kickers of all time, Vinatieri's 25th season in the NFL was in doubt after he underwent surgery on tendons in his left knee in December, 2019. He did not play last season.

(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)