Parma attacker Goran Pandev has announced plans to retire at the end of the season.

Pandev joined the Serie B outfit from Genoa in January.

"Maybe," he said, "I should have done it after the European Championship, but I wanted to close in front of the Genoa fans, our audience, I wanted that.

"I felt that they no longer needed me and I had two choices: to stop or go and have fun elsewhere. When I went to the stadium and I saw people happy I was leaving and I knew it was time to go. I was sorry, but I realised it was over.

"When I told about Parma's call to Zarbano, Spors and the other managers, no one said to me 'stay, help the boys'. They told me: 'If you have decided to go, go'. You could see that they were happy and I wanted to remove the disturbance.

Pandev then confirmed that he will not take part in the Italy-North Macedonia playoff match on March 24th: "No, I won't be there."