Hoffenheim legend Sebastian Rudy has announced his retirement at the age of 33.
“Sebastian Rudy has finally ended his career as a professional soccer player,” Hoffenheim announced on the club’s website on Sunday.
Rudy moved to Hoffenheim in 2010 and quickly established himself as a mainstay in the Hoffenheim lineup, becoming one of the Bundesliga’s top midfielders in 195 appearances over seven seasons until the 2016/17 season, when he scored two goals and provided nine assists in 32 appearances in his final campaign.
He moved to Bayern Munich in 2017, where he started the season as a regular, but was increasingly pushed aside by the emergence of Thiago-Javi Martinez, and under Heynckes, he was a frustratingly ambiguous player who could neither attack nor defend.
In 2018, he moved to Schalke 04, where he lost his place in the starting lineup and returned to Hoffenheim. He did well upon his return, earning a recall to the national team, and continued to be a regular starter and rotation member at Hoffenheim until the 2022/23 season.
The 33-year-old, whose contract with TSG Hoffenheim expired on June 30, has played a total of 358 Bundesliga matches, 295 of them for Hoffenheim, making him the club’s most-capped player in the Bundesliga.
When he said goodbye to TSG Hoffenheim last summer after a total of 11 years with the club, Sebastian Rudy still hadn’t decided whether he 토토 wanted to retire from the game altogether. Three months later, his career is officially over.
“I’m still playing soccer and I’m not going to give it up,” Rudy announced in a video from his former club, “I’m watching the Hoffenheim game a little bit and maybe I’ll kick a few goals there.”