Former Italy international Andrea Pirlo has confirmed he will retire from football when his New York City contract expires in the Major League Soccer (MLS) in December.
The former Juventus and AC Milan reveals that he no longer has the keeness to train as he would like to and intends to call time on his career at the end of the season.
“You just come to realise that the time has come,” Pirlo told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“You have physical problems every day, you can’t train as you would like to because you always have something.
“At my age, that’s enough. It’s not as though you can go on until you’re 50. I’ll do something else.”
However, the World Cup-winning midfielder says he has no plans at the moment to go into coaching.
“I don’t know yet,” he said when asked what his next move would be.
“I’ll be back in Italy in December. There are things that are said, but give me time to decide.
“If you get a call from a first team right away, it’s hard to refuse. I repeat: for now, I don’t have that intention.
“After 25 years of football, I will be at home with my family. I’ll play golf and tennis to keep fit.”
Pirlo began his career with Brescia, and won the Serie A and the Champions League twice.
He won 116 senior caps for Italy, winning the World Cup in 2006 and reaching the final of Euro 2012.
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