Germany's Markus Merk has decided to retire from refereeing at the end of the Bundesliga season.
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German career While the highly-regarded match official is still 46, he has made the choice to hang up his whistle, saying: "This is now the ideal time for me to end a great spell without the negative moments outweighing the positive ones." Merk has officiated in 333 domestic games since 1988, and was an official at the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cup finals as well as the 2000 and 2004 UEFA European Championships.
'Moments of joy' Merk completed his time as a UEFA official in December, having taken charge of the 1996/97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final and the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League final, in which AC Milan beat Juventus on penalties after a 0-0 draw. The former dentist, who sold his practice in 2005 to concentrate on his work as a motivational speaker, said of his top-level refereeing days: "You are under constant strain but you have many moments of great joy. These opportunities are the reward for decades of hard work."
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