Michael Ballack retires from soccer

Germany's former captain Michael Ballack declared his retirement from football, he said in an official statement on Tuesday. "At the age of 36 years I can look back on a long and wonderful time in professional football. As a child I would never have even been able to dream of such a career," Ballack said. The former "Capitano" started his professional career in 1995 at Chemnitz to play for clubs like Kaiserslautern, Bayer Leverkusen (twice), Bayern Munich, and Chelsea. In his overall career statistics Ballack made 585 official matches to score 145 goals. He is known for his leadership ability in the midfield, through balls, ball skills and scoring ability. Since 1999 the 36-year-old midfielder was part of the " Nationalmannschaft" where he scored 42 goals in 98 matches. "It was a privilege to work with world class coaches and fantastic players. Of course I am going to miss to play in front of 80,000 spectators or scoring goals. Michael Ballacks contract at Bayer Leverkusen was not extended in the summer. Nevertheless he had some offers from around the world. "The last few month without football have shown me that the time has come to stop. I'm looking forward to a new chapter in my life. I want to thank my family and all the great people who supported me." Ballack had won four Bundesliga title, three German Cups, one Premier League title and three FA Cups.