Madrid - France and Real Madrid playmaker Zinedine Zidane is going to retire from football after the World Cup, local news reports said on Tuesday.
Marca and AS, Madrid's two leading sports papers, both claimed that Zidane, who turns 34 in June, will quit after playing for France at the June 9-July 9 tournament in Germany.
According to AS, 'his continual injuries...and Real's internal problems are leading him towards this decision.'
Zidane has missed no less than 19 games this season due to various back, knee and muscular injuries.
The France captain has scheduled a press conference for Wednesday in which he is expected to officially announce his retirement.
Zidane is under contract with Real until June 2007, but the club will not try to persuade him to carry on. Indeed, embattled president Fernando Martin plans to offer Zidane the role of 'global ambassador' for the troubled club.
At the end of Sunday's home game against Malaga - in which Zidane equalized after coming off the bench - 'Zizou' appeared to wave goodbye to the Bernabeu fans.
The 99-times capped Zidane won the 1998 World Cup and the Euro 2000 tournament with France and the European Champions League with Madrid in 2002. He retired from the national team in 2004 but returned 12 months later.
Zidane is also a three-time World Footballer of the Year 1998, 2000 and 2003.
His 71.6-million euros (88.6 million dollars) move from Juventus Turin to Real in 2001 remains the biggest football transfer ever.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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