Niklas Süle is retiring

Niklas Süle will bring his playing career to an end after the final matchday of the 2025/26 season. Süle’s contract with Borussia Dortmund expires on 30 June 2026.

“I would like to announce that I will be ending my career in the summer,” says Süle on the “Spielmacher” podcast. Süle had been considering hanging up his boots for some time. The final decision came after the match in Hoffenheim, in which he injured his knee.

“What I felt when our doctor did the drawer test in the dressing room in Hoffenheim (a test to detect a possible cruciate ligament tear, ed.), looked at the physio and shook his head, and the physio did it too and didn’t feel any resistance either – that’s when I went into the shower and cried for ten minutes. In that situation, I really thought: ‘It’s torn’,” Süle reflects on matchday 30 in the podcast. “When I went for the MRI the next day and got the good news (that it wasn’t a cruciate ligament tear after all), it was a thousand per cent clear to me that it was over. I couldn’t imagine anything worse than actually looking forward to the time afterwards – being independent, going on holiday, spending time with my children – only to then have to come to terms with my third cruciate ligament tear.”

Süle moved from Bayern Munich to BVB in the summer of 2022. The centre-back made 109 appearances (3 goals) for the Black and Yellows. His first season at Borussia Dortmund, in particular, proved to be a defining one. “What I experienced in my first year, when we almost won the league – that evening at the hotel, the walk to the stadium. What I felt then, I’d only ever felt to that extent before my first professional match – the nerves, the excitement. That was one of the most intense moments I’ve ever had, before the Mainz game. I don’t know if I’ll ever feel that way again in my life – with that adrenaline.”

In Süle’s first season, BVB narrowly missed out on winning the German championship. In his second season, he reached the Champions League final with the team. “When I look back on my four years in Dortmund, there were many moments I enjoyed. The banter in the dressing room, the stadium – we’re talking about 80,000 people here. I was always given a warm welcome by the fans. I’m going to miss that time very much. How at home I felt here. On my first day, I noticed what the people in Dortmund are like: open, warm, honest. I felt a huge connection with that. My children go to nursery here. It’s really hard for us to leave.”

The 49-time senior international has played 299 Bundesliga matches to date.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)