Toni Kroos has said he will retire from soccer after playing for Germany in the European Championship at home.
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Before that the Real Madrid midfielder will seek to win his sixth Champions League trophy.
The 34-year-old German, a World Cup winner in Brazil in 2014, said it was a tough decision, but that the timing felt "somehow perfect."
"I always wanted to leave at the peak of my abilities and I know, and from a lot of examples you see, that it isn't easy, that you can miss that point in time very quickly," Kroos said on a podcast he hosts with his brother.
"I never wanted to have the feeling at the end that the club, the fans, the people around me would have to tell me, 'That's enough,' or that I'd spend another two or three years sitting on the bench."
Madrid thanked Kroos and hailed his achievements with the team.
"Real Madrid would like to express its gratitude and affection to Toni Kroos, a player who will go down in Real Madrid history as one of our club and international football's greatest legends," the club said on Tuesday.
Madrid will face Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final on June 1 in London. His European trophies with Madrid came in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2022. He also won the Champions League with Bayern in 2013 along with three Bundesliga titles.
Kroos has been with Madrid since 2014, helping it win 22 titles, including four European Cups and four Spanish leagues. He made 463 appearances with the club, which called the midfielder "a key player in one of the most successful periods of Real Madrid's 122-year history."
Kroos said in February he agreed to play for Germany at Euro 2024 after a request from coach Julian Nagelsmann. He has not played for for the national team in almost three years, since Germany's loss to England in the second round of the last European Championship.
Australian Associated Press
