BERLIN: Former Germ­any international centre-back Niklas Sule anno­unced on Thursday he will retire at the end of the season aged 30 when his current contract with Borussia Dortmund expires.

Capped 49 times and a veteran of two World Cup campaigns, Sule also won the Champions League with Bayern Munich in 2020.

Sule was set to leave Dort­mund as a free agent but said a knee injury in a match against former side Hoffenheim made him rec­o­nsider his playing future.

In a statement released by Dortmund on Thursday, Sule said he feared he had torn his ACL for a third time.

While he was later cleared of the injury, the defender said: “it was a thousand per cent clear to me that it was over. I went to the shower and cried for 10 minutes.”

Sule won the Bundesliga five times and lifted two German Cups in addition to the 2020 Champions League title, all with Bayern.

His senior international career kicked off with a silver medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

He went on to play at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups as well as the 2020 Euros which were played in 2021.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2026