Sami Hyypiä set to retire

At a press conference in Helsinki yesterday 37 year old defender Sami Hyypiä surprisingly announced that he will retire at the end of the season though he has a contract running until summer 2012 with Bayer 04 Leverkusen.

Sami Hyypiä was born in Porvoo, which is close to the Finnish capital Helsinki. After playing for Pallo-Peokot and Kumu in his youth he joined Finnish first division side MyPa in 1992. After three years he left them for Dutch Eredivisie side Willem II Tilburg where he spend four seasons before joining Liverpool FC.

Hyypiä spend a memorable decade with the Red where he went on to win the 2005 UEFA Champions League besides the 2001 treble - Football League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup plus the 2006 FA Cup. He even captained the Merseyside for a number of years before leaving them for Bayer 04 Leverkusen in 2009, which was to many a rather surprising move.

Hyypiä has never won the national title with any of his clubs, but was nine times Finland's Footballer of the year - 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010. He has the second highest number of internationals for Finland with 105 behind legendary Jari Litmanen having scored five goals for his country.

"My time at Leverkusen has been fascinating and will finish with a direct qualification for the Champions League," said Hyypiä, who has so far played 52 times for Bayer 04.

"I've spent two years with a superb team and a wonderful club which is giving me the opportunity to start my coaching career."

Hyypiä would return to Finland this summer to do his coaching badges and work as part of the coaching staff at the Finnish national team before returning to Bayer 04 Leverkusen in 2012 as one of their assistant coaches on a two year contract.