Italian legend Roberto Baggio has confirmed that he will retire from football in 2004 after nearly 16 years in Serie A.
The 36-year-old, who is currently in his fourth season with Brescia, cited the numerous injury problems that have dogged him throughout his career as the main reason behind his decision, but admitted that the reality of not playing football will be difficult for him to adapt to.
"The idea of retiring is uppermost in my mind at the moment and I think that that is what will definitely happen," he said. "My career has been conditioned by injuries down the years, which has meant it has been more and more stop-start as the years have gone on.
"And when your career is stop-start it means you have more and more niggling injuries, which at my age are extremely difficult to shake off."
Baggio has enjoyed an outstanding career in top-level football, having played in three World Cups, won the European and World Player of the Year awards in 1993 and excelled for all three of Italy's most famous clubs - Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan. But he revealed that he has one more challenge.
"The Divine Ponytail" has scored 196 goals in Serie A, and he is desperate to reach the 200 mark before the end of the current campaign.
He said: "It is a shame that I have had even more problems with injury this season.
"It has meant that I have had to end the calendar year on 196 career goals - I had hoped to be able to end the year on 200.
"I am determined to reach that amount before I quit, however, and I would also like to help Brescia to safety in Serie A for the fourth successive season."