Former France striker Youri Djorkaeff's career ended when his New York Red Bulls team were knocked out of the MLS playoffs by D.C. United on Sunday.
A world champion on home turf in 1998 and a European champion two years later, the 38-year-old cheered the France fans with spectacular goals and a never-say-die attitude.
The son of former France centre back Jean Djorkaeff, Djorkaeff won his first medal in 1991 in the French Cup with Monaco alongside future national team mate Emmanuel Petit.
Both have now called it a day, with Djorkaeff becoming the 17th of the 1998 world champions to hang up his boots. "Now we're back to square one," Djorkaeff told French sports daily L'Equipe's Web site on Monday. "I don't feel nostalgic. I've known everything and I had the feeling it was time for me to go.
"Physically, I was still in good shape but mentally I was not there anymore." Djorkaeff, nicknamed the Snake, will live in New York City with his wife and children until the end of the school year.
He said his best memory as a player was the 1998 World Cup, when France beat Brazil 3-0 in the final at the Stade de France. "There was something magical in that team," he said. Djorkaeff, who has Armenian origins, scored 28 goals in 82 internationals, the most important being a superb volley from outside the box that gave France a 2-1 win over Spain in the Euro 2000 quarter-finals.
Born in Lyon on March 9, 1968, Djorkaeff started his career in Grenoble at the age of 16, before leaving for second-division Racing Strasbourg in 1989. He was then transferred to Monaco a year later, becoming the league's top scorer in 1994 with the principality team.
In 1996, he won the European Cup Winners' Cup with Paris St Germain before leaving for Inter Milan, where he spent three years, helping the club win the UEFA Cup in 1998. Before moving to the other side of the Atlantic, Djorkaeff played for Kaiserslautern and spent 2-1/2 years in the English Premier League with the Bolton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers.
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