SPIACENZA, Italy () -- Italian Pierpaolo Curti, a striker for serie C club Fiorenzuola, said Wednesday he was giving up full-time professional soccer because it was cramping his style as an aspiring artist.


"My lifetime's ambition was to play as a professional. I have achieved that dream but it has been a rude awakening," he said. "I realized that a part of me had been wiped out. Too much soccer was stifling my creativity as an artist."


Club sources said Curti has held several exhibitions of his paintings and was known in local artistic circles.


"Pierpaolo has made his decision and we can do nothing to change it," said Fiorenzuola manager Riccardo Francani. "It's a shame because we had great hopes for him."