NUREMBERG - Nurnberg striker Jan Koller claims he could retire if found guilty of spitting at an opponent during his side's 2-1 defeat to Hannover on Saturday.
The German football association (DFB) have launched an investigation after TV cameras appeared to show the veteran Czech Republic international spitting at Christian Schulz towards the end of the game.
Koller told www.idnes.cz: "If they punish me, it would be too much. I never spit at anyone. If they punish me, I would consider ending my career."
The 34-year-old, who joined Nurnberg from Monaco in the transfer window, admits the footage of the incident looks bad, but insists he did not intentionally spit at the Hannover midfielder.
"No, I absolutely not. I swear," he said. "It was the end of the match; I was angry and shouting at (Hannover player) Altin Lala - we had been pushing each other before that. As I was yelling the saliva came out of my mouth by accident.
"I agree that the shots look really dangerous, but hopefully they (the DFB) will believe me.
"If there was a shot from the front view it would be clear that I was not spitting, that I was only shouting at the man standing in the bundle of players two metres from me.
"It was the hard, last seconds; we were losing, emotions were boiling over. I started yelling at him (Lala), and as I had my mouth full of saliva, it went out.
"I did not mean it. But when you look at the photo, it looks that I am spitting at Schultz, with whom I had no problem. Hopefully they will also ask for his opinion."
The DFB will study the video footage before deciding whether to charge the former Borussia Dortmund forward.
For the time being Koller has been asked for an explanation of the incident from the DFB, and admits he is worried they may not believe him.
He added: "Spitting is a shameful thing, I hate this kind of behaviour. Now I am facing this accusation. I feel horrible.
"If they don´t believe me, it (a punishment) might happen.
"I am very angry right now. I feel as though somebody started a war. Though I had a conflict with totally different player on Saturday."
Koller has received the backing of his Czech Republic team-mate and Hannover player Jiri Stajner.
He said: "I called Jiri Stajner, his (Schulz's) team-mate from Hannover. He does not know about any spitting."
