Former national player Lars Stindl is ending his football career after this season. A year ago he returned to his hometown club Karlsruher SC, but after 376 Bundesliga games, 29 Champions League appearances and eleven games in the DFB jersey, the 35-year-old’s spell with the second division team ended in May. “It was an incredibly beautiful and intense time, with many highs but also some not-so-easy moments. For me, last summer was a dream come true: I returned to my hometown club, played in the new Wildpark and scored my first goal there to have achieved,” said Stindl in a club statement on Thursday.
Stindl went through several youth seasons at the Wildpark starting in 2000 and played for Karlsruhe until 2010. He then moved to Hannover 96 before playing for Borussia Mönchengladbach for eight years from 2015 to 2023, where he was promoted to captain and national player. “It was a great gift for us as a coaching team to be able to work with a player like Lars with this outstanding quality,” said head coach Christian Eichner. “It will be a very special and emotional moment for all of us in the summer, when he actually retires, when he ends his great career in Karlsruhe.”