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36 year old midfielder Michael Ballack yesterday called it quits on his playing career, after the former Germany captain did not find a club to continue his career. Ballack left Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the summer, and was said to have been in talks with clubs in the North American Major League Soccer and the Australian A-League, with offers also coming in from the Middle East, but no deal could be worked out.
CAPETOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – JULY 01: Head coach of Germany Joachim Loew (R) poses with Michael Ballack (C) and Philipp Lahm in the Hotel Southern Sun on July 1, 2010 in Capetown, South Africa.
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In an official statement Ballack said:
At 36 years of age, I can look back on a long and wonderful time in professional football, which I could never have dreamed of as a child. It was a privilege to have worked with world-class coaches and fantastic players.
Of course, I will miss playing and scoring a goal in front of 80,000 fans, but the last few months without football have shown me that it is time to stop.
I am looking forward to a new chapter in my life and thank my family and all the awesome people who have helped and supported me. They are all a big part of my success.
The former Germany ‘Capitano’, as he was fondly called, played 98 times for Germany, before a horrific injury playing for FC Chelsea by Kevin-Prince Boateng during the English FA Cup final in May 2010, forcefully ended his international career, just before the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Ballack, who played for Chemnitzer FC, 1.Kaiserslautern, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, FC Bayern Munich and Chelsea FC in London before returning to Leverkusen, is best known to have led Germany through a difficult decade without real stars except him, but is also known as someone who couldn’t win an international title, finishing runners-up at the 2002 FIFA World Cup and the 2008 European Championships for Germany, besides the 2002 and 2008 UEFA Champions League at club level, though he won the German Bundesliga and English Premier League titles for his club sides.
