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Lizarazo Also Speaks of Retirement

The upcoming World Cup in Germany seems to have a strange effect on some of the best professional football players in the world. With Zinaden Zidane and Oliver Kahn both announcing of their retirement plans, we now see another great player talking about ending his career. FC Bayren Munchen`s Bixente Lizarazu announced that he would finish his playing at the end of the season.

The 36-year-old won his fifth German Cup as Bayern won 1-0 against Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday but has decided to call time on his playing career despite being offered another year`s contract at the Olympiastadion. "I did not feel fit enough to carry on," he explained. "Now I will start a new life." The player is expected to play his final game for Bayern at home against Borussia Dortmund on 13 May, by which time he may also have won his sixth German title since joining the club in 1997 following spells at FC Girondins de Bordeaux and Athletic Club Bilbao.

He remains a hero in France having won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA EURO 2000? with the all-conquering national side of the turn of the century, and he won the top honor in club football as Bayern won the UEFA Champions League in 2000/01.