Former Bayern Munich and Germany striker Sandro Wagner retires from football
Former Bayern Munich and Germany striker Sandro Wagner has announced his retirement from the game, aged 32.
Wagner, whose final stint as a player was in the Chinese Super League with Tianjin TEDA, says he turned down a number of offers from German clubs and will instead embark on a career as a coach.
"I'm incredibly grateful that football has given me such a wonderful life," Wagner told BILD. "I was able to achieve all of my goals and dreams.
"I was really happy to receive so many calls from Bundesliga clubs and abroad in recent days, but my decision stands. In September, I'll start training to be a coach. My plan is to take up a coaching role next summer.
"Now I just want to enjoy my time with my family, who I have to thank more than most. They were always there for me, even though I couldn't always be there for my wife and kids whilst playing professionally."
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Wagner made 34 competitive appearances for boyhood club Bayern in his last spell on German soil, scoring 10 goals between January 2018 and 2019.
The Munich native, who won his second Bundesliga title with Bayern in 2017/18, also represented Duisburg, Werder Bremen, Kaiserslautern, Hertha Berlin, Darmstadt and Hoffenheim. He produced 44 goals and 12 assists in 144 Bundesliga outings, as well as 17 goals and 11 assists in 67 Bundesliga 2 matches.
Internationally, Wagner won the UEFA U21 2009 European Championships in his youth, and the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup with the Germany senior squad. He scored five goals in eight games for his country, before retiring from international football after being left out of Joachim Löw's squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
"Wearing the national team's shirt made me particularly proud," he recalled.
Wagner totalled 12 goals in 26 league matches for Tianjin between January 2019 and July 2020, before terminating his contract for "family reasons".
He is the third ex-Germany international to announce a surprise early retirement in recent weeks, after 2014 World Cup winners Andre Schürrle and Benedikt Höwedes.
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