Ilkay Gündogan announced his retirement from international football with Germany on Monday, following his role as captain at their home European Championship earlier this summer.
The 33-year-old Barcelona midfielder, who scored 19 goals in 82 appearances for his country, shared the news on social media.
“After a few weeks of consideration, I have come to the conclusion that it is time to end my national team career,” he wrote. “I look back with great pride on 82 international matches for my home country — a number I could never have dreamed of when I made my debut for the senior national team in 2011.
“My highlight was definitely the huge honour of being able to lead the team as captain at our home European Championship last summer! After all these years, we finally managed to make the nation proud again — I’m very happy that I was able to play a part in that.
“But even before the tournament, I felt a certain tiredness in my body and also in my head, which made me think. And the number of games at club and national level is not coming down.
“I will definitely continue to be a fan of this national team and I really hope that we can continue the upward trend together — and then there is nothing to stop us from being one of the prime contenders for the title at the 2026 World Cup. We have a fantastic coach, a really strong squad and a great team spirit.”
Gündogan’s retirement follows that of Thomas Müller, who announced his stepping back from international duty in the aftermath of the Euro 2024 campaign which saw Germany eliminated by Spain in the quarterfinals.
That success followed a lean run of tournament success for one of the sport’s most decorated nations, with a group-stage elimination at the World Cup in 2018 followed by a round-of-16 exit at the hands of England at Euro 2020, played in 2021.
Gündogan’s club future is up in the air as Barcelona struggle with registration issues even after their 2-1 win to open the LaLiga season on Saturday.
According to Spanish media, Gündogan had expressed his desire to leave Barcelona before the end of the transfer market, only one year after making his move from Manchester City.
However, Barcelona manager Hansi Flick said he is convinced he will stay with the club this season. Sources told ESPN that Gündogan will talk when the time is right, but ruled nothing out, despite insistence at weekend he would stay with the club.
