“Now the moment has come”
Ex-international ends career
08.05.2025 – 5:46 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
He had been a top performer at RB Leipzig for many years and finally moved back to his main club. Now Marcel Halstenberg puts an end – and explains why.
Former soccer player Marcel Halstenberg ends his active career after the season. This was announced by his Hannover 96 club on Thursday. The 33-year-old defensive player will be officially adopted at the home game against Greuther Fürth on Sunday (from 1.30 p.m. in the live ticker at T-Online).
Halstenberg played in the youth of Hanover from 1999. After stations in Dortmund, St. Pauli and Leipzig, he returned to the Lower Saxony in 2023. With RB he won the DFB Cup twice and also gained Champions League experience. In his career he played more than 320 competitive games, under national coach Joachim Löw he ran nine times for the German national team between 2017 and 2021 and scored a goal.
“I am proud of what I have achieved: I have played a lot of games at top level, measure myself with outstanding players and be able to act for the national team,” said Halstenberg in a message to the fans: “But my career would not have been completely without the return two years ago. Now the moment I just felt that it is now good. I am looking forward to being with my family, which often had to put back.”
96 managing director Marcus Mann praised the defender-also beyond his football qualities. “Halst was an absolute profit for us human and sporty,” said Mann: “His left foot is second to none. Now we wish him a successful and emotional degree.” After the home game against Fürth, the last game of his career at Hertha BSC follows on May 18.