World Cup-winning German defender Mats Hummels will retire from professional football this summer.###The 36-year-old is out of contract with Serie A club Roma in June and said on his social media accounts he will call it day at the end of the season.
“I’m struggling with my emotions right now,” Hummels said.###”Now comes the moment that no footballer can avoid. After 18 years and so many things that football has given me, I’m ending my career this summer.”
Hummels was part of the Germany side which won the 2014 World Cup and earned 78 caps for his country between 2010 and 2023, scoring five goals.
Current Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann hailed him as “a benchmark at the international level and a role model for a generation of defenders”.###Bergisch Gladbach-born Hummels came through Bayern Munich’s youth ranks and made his first-team debut for the Bavarian club aged 18 in May 2007.
He joined Borussia Dortmund January 2008, initially on loan, and went on to become a key part of the team that twice won the Bundesliga under Jurgen Klopp.###Hummels moved back to Bayern in 2016, where he won three more German league titles, then returned to Dortmund for a second spell three years later.
The centre-back twice played in the Champions League final, in 2013 and 2024, and was on the losing side with Dortmund on both occasions.
Hummels played 508 matches for Dortmund and a further 118 for Bayern.###He joined Roma in 2024 on a free transfer and has made 18 appearances in all competitions for the Giallorossi so far this season. (BBC)