FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Europa League - Knockout Phase Playoff - Second Leg - AS Roma v FC Porto - Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy - February 20, 2025 AS Roma's Mats Hummels during the warm up before the match REUTERS/Alberto Lingria/File Photo
(Reuters) - Germany and AS Roma centre back Mats Hummels will retire at the end of the season, the 2014 World Cup winner said on Friday, bringing the curtain down on a near two-decade career.
A product of the Bayern Munich academy, Hummels, 36, made a switch to arch-rivals Borussia Dortmund in 2008. Having gone on to have a second spell at both the clubs, he joined Roma last year, making 18 appearances for the Serie A club.
Capped 78 times for Germany, Hummels lifted the World Cup in Brazil. He has won five Bundesliga titles as well as three German Cups and six German Super Cups.
He went close to winning the Champions League twice with Dortmund as they finished runners-up in the 2012-13 and 2023-24 seasons.
"I'm struggling with my emotions right now. Now comes the moment no footballer can avoid. After more than 18 years and so many things that football has given me, I'm ending my career this summer," Hummels, who last played for Germany in November 2023, said on social media.
"I know how much this whole journey, this whole path has meant to me. How extraordinary it was to be able to experience that.
"Because it takes a lot, just having the right coaches at the right time, being fit at the right time, having the right teammates at the right time. And I've seen so many guys, so many coaches, who I owe a lot to."
Hummels' contract at Roma expires in the close season.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Davis)
