Chelsea's Portuguese international Deco plans to leave Stamford Bridge in the summer to go back to Brazil to help run a school he has founded.
The 32-year-old Brazil-born midfielder had previously said he will quit the international game after the World Cup.
Deco joined Chelsea from Barcelona in 2008 and told the Sunday Times he would be "nostalgic" when he left the club.
"In football you must achieve something when you are young, stay as long as you can, then it's over," he said.
Deco was born in the Brazilian city of Sao Bernardo do Campo and moved to Portugal at the age of 19, gaining Portuguese citizenship in 2002.
He said it had always been his intention to go back to Brazil to work with the poor, but he gave no hint about whether he planned to play for a Brazilian club once back there.
"It will be strange to leave Chelsea but with football this is always the way," he said.
"My friend Mike, a doctor in Brazil, was telling me that one day I will be an ex-footballer but he will never be an ex-doctor.
"In most jobs you do not become an ex-doctor or an ex-engineer or an ex-dentist, you build up your career slowly, getting better and better at what you do.
"With a footballer you can't do that."
The 32-year-old Brazil-born midfielder had previously said he will quit the international game after the World Cup.
Deco joined Chelsea from Barcelona in 2008 and told the Sunday Times he would be "nostalgic" when he left the club.
"In football you must achieve something when you are young, stay as long as you can, then it's over," he said.
Deco was born in the Brazilian city of Sao Bernardo do Campo and moved to Portugal at the age of 19, gaining Portuguese citizenship in 2002.
He said it had always been his intention to go back to Brazil to work with the poor, but he gave no hint about whether he planned to play for a Brazilian club once back there.
"It will be strange to leave Chelsea but with football this is always the way," he said.
"My friend Mike, a doctor in Brazil, was telling me that one day I will be an ex-footballer but he will never be an ex-doctor.
"In most jobs you do not become an ex-doctor or an ex-engineer or an ex-dentist, you build up your career slowly, getting better and better at what you do.
"With a footballer you can't do that."
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