Bayern Munich goalkeeper Oliver Kahn confirmed in the German press on Sunday that he will hang up his boots at the end of next season.
His club had hoped he would sign a contract extension but Kahn reiterated his desire to call it quits in June 2008.'
My career as a goalkeeper will definitely end on June 30, 2008,' said the the 37-year-old in Die Welt newspaper.
Kahn is still the first choice shot-stopper at Bayern but has been surpassed by Arsenal's Jens Lahmann in the national team set-up and retired from the German team after the World Cup.
'Just like I did with the national team, I will leave at the top. I don't want to find myself in the situation where someone decides for me.'
Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge tried to urge Kahn to change his mind last month and sign a new contract.
However, that angered Kahn's understudy at Bayern, Michael Rensing, who has long been touted as the natural successor to the emblematic Kahn.
But Bayern bosses later confirmed that 22-year-old Rensing was indeed the man for the future.
'We signed him for that and for the moment, that's what should happen in 2008,' said the Munich club's general manager Uli Hoeness.
