LISBON, June 4 (Reuters) - Striker Joao Pinto, the biggest Portuguese star still playing in the domestic league, and his Benfica side announced on Sunday they had agreed to rescind his contract due to run until 2004.

Benfica said the sudden departure of the 28-year-old international striker was due to the club's plans to form a listed company.

'(The move is due to) the start of a new stage for the club, with the incorporation of a sporting company for professional football,' a Benfica statement said.

A downcast Pinto said he felt sad to leave the club where he had played since 1992 and said he had not been in contact with any other team.

'I have made no contacts of any sort and have not entered any agreement,' Pinto told a news conference.

Pinto, one of the stars of the Portugal team that will play in the European Championship, did not have a happy 1999/2000 season.

Benfica's German trainer Jupp Heynkes left him on the bench several times during the season, in which his side finished third behind champions Sporting Lisbon and runners-up Porto.

Although no explicit reason was given for cutting Pinto loose, club sources suggested that his high salary was a bone of contention.

Capped 58 times in senior games for Portugal, Pinto is the country's only soccer international to have played in both the 1989 and 1991 World Youth Cup winning teams.

He has also won one Portuguese league championship medal and three cup-winners' medals.