Kevin Muscat has confirmed his retirement from the field after Melbourne Victory's play at the Asian Champions League round of 16 tie in May.

In a statement on Wednesday, Muscat said that he believes this is the best time for him to take a backseat, explaining that his failures to do today what he was used to doing in the field in the previous years, is one of his reasons for retirement. Another reason he cited that prompted him to retire is the kind of training that he does today, which he noted has decreased to a certain degree, compared to how things were few years back.

"After a lot of consideration and deliberation, I kept asking myself 'was it time?, and I realised how frustrated I'd become," Muscat was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press.

"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.

He clarified that though he could still force himself to give 100 percent to the game, it has been taking him too long to recover from it whenever he does.

In his words, Muscat said, "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 has been playing as professional for 21 years. He had played in Europe for one decade representing Crystal Palace, Wolves, Glasgow Rangers and Millwall. The AAP also noted that the well-accomplished athlet has recorded 51 caps for the Soccerros and has won two-A-League titles with the Victory of Melbourne. Muscat has been named three times as Victory’s best player.

Following his retirement, Muscat has been contracted for two seasons as assistant coach for Victory.