Melbourne Victory defender Kevin Muscat has confirmed he will retire from the game following the Asian Champions League.

The 37-year old defender told reporters at a press conference today that he will end his 21-year professional playing career once the Victory finish up in the ACL, which kicks of early next month.

It was also confirmed that Muscat will not captain the club anymore and he cited the state of his body as the main reason for deciding to close the curtain on an extensive career.

"After a lot of consideration and deliberation, I kept asking myself 'was it time?', and I realised how frustrated I'd become," Muscat said.

"Turning up for training, not being able to do what I asked of other people throughout my career - and that's giving 100 per cent.

"Increasingly I found I was unable to do that, and when I was able to do that, it took me a couple of days to recover."

Muscat will now become assistant coach at the Victory with the view to replacing head coach Ernie Merrick when his tenure ends.