France goalkeeper Fabien Barthez has announced that he will retire next year.
“I am 33 years old. There are not many seasons left for me,” Barthez told reporters ahead of France’s World Cup qualifiers against Switzerland and Israel.
“I’ll call a halt in 2006. From all football.”
Barthez became first choice for the 1998 World Cup, which France won by beating Brazil 3-0 in the final, and was also a member of the side that won Euro 2000.
Barthez started his club career at Toulouse before moving to Marseille in 1992, winning the European Cup the following season against Milan. He moved to Monaco in 1995 before joining Manchester United for a two-and-a-half-year spell. He returned to Marseille in December 2003.
