"I plan to leave the national team after the European Championship," Figo said in an interview with the sports channel SPORTTV.

The FIFA World player of the year in 2001, who has a contract with Real Madrid until 2006, has played 97 times for his country and should earn his 100th cap in a friendly early next year before the tournament starts.

Figo turns 31 next month but gave no specific reasons for his international retirement and declined to make any predictions about his club career.

"Playing in England was always a childhood dream, but that doesn't mean it'll happen, because I am under contract at Real Madrid until 2006," he said.

"It would be a great pleasure to go back to Sporting, the club that started me off. Everything is feasible in football, but I won't promise anything."

Like many of Portugal's "golden generation" who won the World Under-16 crown in 1989 and the World Under-19 title in 1991, Figo has won top club honours but success at international level has eluded him.

He first signed for Sporting at the age of 13 , later making 124 league appearances for the club, scoring 14 times.

He made his senior debut for Portugal in October 1991 in a 1-1 draw against Luxembourg

He moved to Barcelona in 1995 and after 172 league games there (30 goals), made the final and most controversial move of his career to date when he joined arch-rivals Real Madrid in July 2000.

Later that year he was named as the European Player of the Year and in 2002 he was in the Madrid side that won the European Cup for a record ninth time.

Along with the likes of fellow Champions League winner Rui Costa, Euro 2004 will be the last chance for Figo to shine after a first-round exit from the World Cup last year.

In a bid to improve on their failings in 2002, Portugal have brought in coach Luiz Filipe Scolari, who steered Brazil to a record fifth World Cup win in Japan.

Yet Figo also urged Portuguese fans not to build up their hopes over the European championships next year, in which Portugal automatically qualify as hosts.

"You can't think you'll win the Euro just because you're the home side," he said. "We're good, but were still a long way from being favourites."

"We have hopes we can win to achieve such a thing, but we also have to be realistic, as there are other teams better than us. We can't compare ourselves to teams like France, Spain or Germany who are used to winning trophies."