Sunday 21 December 2014 11:04, UK
Former Germany forward Mike Hanke has brought an end to his career at the age of 31, saying he has lost his appetite for the game.
Hanke was part of the Germany squad which finished third at the 2006 World Cup, but after a disappointing season with Freiburg last year he has spent the last six months playing in China.
He has received numerous offers from clubs in Germany's second division but has decided not to accept any and instead called it quits.
"I've been thinking about it for the last six weeks and realised that I'm not really missing football," he told Germany's Sky Sports. "I'm feeling good without it."
Hanke is instead working on a social media project that he does not want to reveal until it is ready, but has ruled out a return to the game.
"I just can't be bothered anymore," he added. "My time at Gladbach was so intense that I now find it so difficult to find that extra 10 per cent to motivate me to get up and go to training in the morning and give everything to be successful.
"I realised (when I was at Freiburg) that I was struggling to keep up with the youngsters."
Hanke was capped 12 times by his country and celebrated his biggest success in winning the DFB-Pokal with Schalke in 2002.
He also appeared for Wolfsburg and Hannover in the Bundesliga before ending his career after a spell with Guizhou Renhe, for whom he scored just one goal.
