Robben Announces Retirement From Football

Robben Announces Retirement From Football

By Max Wise

Arjen Robben has called time on a glittering career after leaving German champions Bayern Munich at the end of last season.

The 35-year-old announced he will be leaving the Bavarians at the end of the 2018/2019 season but it was hoped that he could continue playing for a few more years and had been linked with clubs in the Dutch Eredevisie, Major League Soccer as well as Leicester City in the English Premier League.

Robben has however decided enough is enough after a trophy-laden career that saw him win league titles in Netherlands, England, Spain and Germany.

"I have been thinking a lot over the past few weeks," he said in a press release.

"As everyone knows, I took the time to make an informed decision about my future after my last Bayern Munich match. And I decided to put an end to my career as a professional football player.

"It is without doubt the hardest decision I have had to make in my career. A decision where heart and mind collided.

"The love for the game and the conviction that you can still handle the whole world, as opposed to the reality that not everything runs the way you want and you are no longer the 16-year-old boy who had no idea what an injury meant.

"At the moment I am fit and healthy and as a fan of many other sports I would like to keep it that way for the future. I will therefore stop definitively, but it is good that way."

Robben began his career in his native Netherlands with Groningen before moving to PSV Eindhoven.

Jose Mourinho priced him to Chelsea from Holland in 2004 and he was part of the Blues side that won back-to-back Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006.

Robben added another league title to his trophy collection after joining Real Madrid in the summer of 2007 but it was at Bayern Munich where he really forged his reputation as one of the best wingers in world football.

In 10 years at Bayern Munich, Robben won eight Bundesliga titles as well as numerous domestic cups and he also scored the winning goal in the Bavarians’ 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund in the 2013 UEFA Champions League final.

Robben made 96 appearances for the Dutch national team, scoring 36 goals and was an integral member of their squads that lost the 2010 FIFA World Cup final to Spain and finished in third place at the Mundial four years later in Brazil.

In all, Robben made 606 career appearances and scored 210 goals.