"The time has come to quit," Hagi told a news conference the day after the national side returned home after their 1-0 defeat by Croatia.

"Any story has a beginning and an end and the end has come. I think I have accomplished my duty to my country. It's time to give up my place to younger players," he said.

In eastern Europe's only Latin country, commentators were unanimous in upholding Hagi as the best player in Romanian football history.

Hagi, 33, captained Romania in 54 matches over 15 years, accumulated a record 115 caps and scored 33 goals. He made his national debut in August 1983 against Norway in Oslo and inspired Romania to reach the 1994 World Cup quarter-finals. He also led the team to the 1990 and 1998 world finals and at the 1996 European Championship finals in England.

Hagi won the European Super Cup in1987 with perennial Romanian champion Steaua Bucharest and a year after communism collapsed, he moved in 1990 to Real Madrid, for a transfer fee of $4.3 million, a national record at the time.

He later switched to Brescia of Italy, Barcelona and Galatasaray Istanbul, his current club.

"My last dream is to come back home to coach in Constanta," Hagi said, referring to the country's biggest Black Sea port.