Former Bundesliga soccer player Nuri Sahin has ended his active career and will only work as a coach at the Turkish premier league club Antalyaspor.
The 33-year-old decided against becoming a player-coach.
"I will not return as a footballer," Sahin told the Spanish newspaper "AS".
This Saturday, Sahin gives his premiere away against Sivasspor on the sideline of Antalyaspor.
Sahin had surprisingly become a coach a week and a half ago.
According to reports from Turkish media, Antalyaspor gave the former Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen midfielder a five-year contract and gave him the option to end his active career or work as a player-coach.
After only eight points in the first eight match days and a 1: 2 defeat against promoted Adana Demirspor, Lukas Podolski's former club was in the 14th position.
went into the international break and parted ways with coach Ersun Yanal after almost a year.
Sahin moved from Werder Bremen to Turkey in 2020 and now has his first head coach post.
With Dortmund, Sahin won the DFB Cup and the German championship, in Spain he won the title in the Primera División with Real Madrid.
The former Turkish international was also under contract with Liverpool.