Leverkusen midfielder Schneider forced to retire

Bernd Schneider has announced his retirement from football with immediate effect.

The Bayer Leverkusen midfielder missed almost all of last season after slipping his disc a month before Euro 2008, for which he was expected to be part of the Germany squad.

The injury has not fully healed, according to recent tests, and the 35-year-old has decided to bring an end to a career which has spanned 296 Bundesliga matches, 124 in the second division, and 81 caps for the Germany national team.

''Doctors told me a week ago that the risk of playing professional football was too great,'' he told the German Football Association's website.

''Tests showed that the accident I had two months before Euro 2008 has led to a back injury which makes continuing my career impossible.''

Schneider made a 13-minute comeback on the final day of the last Bundesliga season, leaving Scheider optimistic that the suffering was behind him.

He was setting his sights on fighting his way back into the Germany team in time for next year's World Cup until last week's bad news from the doctors.

''That short appearance after my operation was a truly sensational experience for me,'' he added.

''I found it overwhelming how happy everybody was to see me back. I obviously hoped to fight all next season and the 2010 World Cup was in the back of my mind - that should have been the end of my career.

''Anybody who knows me will know that football was my passion. It is certainly frustrating to have to end your career like this.

''At the moment it is probably easy because the ball is not rolling yet and we are only in pre-season, but when the Bundesliga gets under way again and I am not involved, it is certainly going to be more emotional.

''But the time would have come sooner or later for me to end my career and it is easier to do it now than to have had to end my career in its early days due to injury.''

Schneider has been given a new role at Leverkusen, working in the scouting or youth section, and will be given a benefit match in the near future.

''I was really delighted when they spontaneously offered me a new role at Bayer 04,'' he said. ''I also think it is fantastic that they will organise a benefit match for me.''

Bayer's director of sport Rudi Voller, who was informed by Schneider of his retirement yesterday and who offered him a new position at the club, was full of praise for one of Germany's most famous players in the new millennium.

''Bernd was a really fantastic player,'' he told the club's website. ''He was a magician on the ball both for Germany and Bayer Leverkusen.''

The midfielder's array of tricks and dribbling down the right wing had earned him the nickname 'The White Brazilian'.

He last played for Germany in a 3-0 win over Austria in Vienna on February 6, 2008, nine years after making his debut against New Zealand.