"The end, towards a new challenge," the former Barcelona, Inter Milan and Chelsea striker posted on Instagram.

"Thank you all, big love, adrenalin. In a few months you'll see me doing something new," Eto'o, who has campaigned relentlessly against racism during his playing days, later said on the margins of an economic forum in DR Congo.

"I need a rest, I've been running for 19-years," he added light-heartedly in Kinshasa.

He stands alongside Liberia's current president George Weah and Ivory Coast's Didier Drogba as a great of African sport, and cuts a mythical figure in his homeland where he is close to national president Paul Biya.

He is slated for a major role in the Confederation of African Football where he has vowed to fight corruption to ensure funds go into infrastructure.