World Cup winning German defender Howedes retires from football

Berlin: World Cup winning German defender BenediktHowedes has announced his retirement from football. The 32-year-old told German magazine Der Spiegel that he arrived at the decision when he was recently travelling with his his wife and child in the south of France.

Howedes said that "football suddenly became so unimportant" after spending that much time with his son. "Our son is now 21 months old and unfortunately I didn't get much time with him at Moscow. I suffered a lot as a family man," he said.

Howedes last played for Russian side Lokomotiv Moscow, which he joined in 2018. He left the club on June 8 this year. Howedes had, however, spent most of his career at Bundesliga club Schalke, except for one year in 2017/18 when he was loaned out to SerieA giants Juventus. He made his debut for Schalke after coming through the club's youth system in the 2007/08 season.