Badstuber was often injured
Tragic Bayern professional ends his career
09/05/2022 3:58 p.m
His successes are numerous, but he cannot celebrate all titles on the pitch. Holger Badstuber is injured too often in his football career. In eight years he only played 177 games for Bayern. After stints at Schalke, Stuttgart and Switzerland, he is now taking a new path.
For Holger Badstuber, the greatest success of his career is only on paper. He wasn’t physically there himself, he wasn’t even sitting on the bench. When FC Bayern won the Champions League title in 2013, David Alaba and Co. just held his shirt up to the cameras, which recorded the ecstatic celebration. Badstuber was missing – once again – injured. A drama that ran through his career, which the now 33-year-old is now ending.
Badstuber was injured in the CL victory.
(Photo: imago sport photo service)
“Dear fans… after 13 years of professional football I announce the end of my career as an active player,” he wrote on Twitter. “Of course I would have wished for a few fewer serious injuries. But I’m very happy about what we’ve achieved. I’m grateful for everything.” In the summer of 2009, the then Bayern coach Louis van Gaal promoted him to the pros, until 2017 he remained loyal to the Munich team, where he had played as a youth since 2002. He got 177 missions in these eight years – that alone shows his injury misery.
He was always considered highly talented, but also extremely injury-prone. Tendon tears, muscle tears, the worst of which was his cruciate ligament tear, which put him out of action from December 2012 to May 2014 and also cost him active participation in the Champions League victory. Despite this, he won the German Championship six times, the DFB Cup four times, the FIFA Club World Cup and the UEFA Supercup once each, and the German Supercup three times.
He wants to be a coach
He played 31 international matches in the national team and was present at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa when the young team finished third in the World Cup. He can “look back on a successful time,” wrote Badstuber. He will “miss the camaraderie that I was able to experience in my teams,” said the native of Memminger, who was loaned to FC Schalke 04 by FC Bayern in 2017 and switched to VfB Stuttgart in the same year. Most recently he played for FC Luzern in Switzerland, his contract expired at the end of last year and Badstuber has been without a club since then.
Some companions commented on his farewell. Jérôme Boateng wrote: “It was an honor for me, Holger. Enjoy the time after your career!” The DFB team sent “All the best for your future” via Twitter, FC Bayern emphasized that Badstuber was “forever part of the history of FC Bayern! Thanks for everything, Holger”.
He wants to stay true to football. Badstuber announced that he would start training as a coach and thus follow in his father Hermann’s footsteps. He had already died of cancer in 2009, he had once brought his son to football. “My father always wanted me to play for FC Bayern. When the offer came, I didn’t hesitate for a second,” Badstuber said after his promotion to the pros. Most recently, Hermann Badstuber coached the U19s at SSV Ulm between 2003 and 2007. “I hope that I’ll stay with football for a long time, albeit in a different role,” Badstuber concluded his announcement.