DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — Champions League winner and five-time winner. Bundesliga Champion Niklas Süle has announced his retirement at the age of 30 after an injury scare caused him to reconsider his future.
Borussia Dortmund’s Germany defender will be leaving football at the end of this season as his contract with the club is already set to expire.
“I’m very clear about my decision,” Sule said on Spielmacher’s podcast in an episode published Thursday. “Nevertheless, it pains me to say this because football has given me so much and I had such an amazing and cool time.”
Süle has missed 22 games this season with various injuries and said he felt more alert after injuring his knee against Hoffenheim last month.
Süle said he “cried for 10 minutes” in the shower after club doctors examined his knee and shook his head, making him fear he had torn his ACL for the third time in his career, which will take several months to heal.
Family and weight concerns
Although the injury was not serious, Sule said it made him consider whether continuing to play soccer would improve his health and how rehabbing the injury would affect his ability to play with his children.
Süle also spoke about how he struggled to manage his weight throughout his career and was perceived as lacking in fitness. At one stage, he even fasted and sweated it out in the sauna wearing a raincoat to lighten up for his weekly weigh-in sessions.
Sule won champions league He won the German title five times with Bayern Munich in 2020 before moving to Dortmund in 2022. During his time with Dortmund, Süle unfortunately missed out on another title. lost the Bundesliga title He will join Bayern at the end of the 2022-23 season.
The following year, he reached the Champions League final with Dortmund, losing to Real Madrid, but achieved a memorable moment in the semi-final when he blocked a goal from Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappé on the goal line.
Süle has played 49 times for Germany, including two World Cups, but has not played since 2023.
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