Former national player Gonzalo Castro is retiring

Former national player Gonzalo Castro (35) has ended his professional career after 17 years. “It was an incredibly emotional journey, during which I always tried to enjoy and appreciate everything,” wrote the longtime player from Leverkusen, who had been without a club since the beginning of July, on Instagram.

The versatile Castro, who is mostly deployed in defensive midfield, played more than 500 competitive games for Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, VfB Stuttgart and most recently Arminia Bielefeld.

Born in Wuppertal, he made five appearances for the German national team, most recently in November 2007.