Niklas Sule To Retire As Dortmund Defender Ends Injury-Hit Career

Niklas Sule has announced he will retire from professional football at the end of the season, bringing down the curtain on a career shaped as much by silverware as by recurring injuries.

Niklas Sule, 30, Borussia Dortmund defender confirmed the decision on the Spielmacher podcast, admitting persistent fitness problems finally forced his hand after another knee scare last month.

“I would like to announce that I will be ending my career this summer,” he said.

“What I felt when our team doctor did the drawer test in the dressing room in Hoffenheim, looked at the physio and shook his head, and the physio did it too and didn’t feel any resistance either, I went into the shower and cried for ten minutes. In that moment, I really thought: ‘It’s torn’.

“When I went for an MRI the next day and received the good news (that it wasn’t an ACL injury), it was 1000% clear to me that it was over. I couldn’t imagine anything worse than looking forward to life, being independent, going on holiday, spending time with my children, only to then have to come to terms with my third cruciate ligament tear.”

Sule joined Dortmund from Bayern Munich in 2022 after a trophy-laden spell in Bavaria. His time at Bayern delivered five Bundesliga titles, a UEFA Champions League triumph and two DFB-Pokal wins.

Internationally, the centre-back last appeared for Germany in 2023.

Injuries repeatedly disrupted his Dortmund spell. He missed 87 matches and made 108 appearances across all competitions for the club.

Dortmund face Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday in a decisive league clash. A win for the side coached by Niko Kovac would seal second place in the German Bundesliga table.