Germany GK Nadine Angerer will retire later this year, she announced on Wednesday. (Photo: Canada Soccer)
Germany goalkeeper and 2013 FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year Nadine Angerer will retire later this year. Angerer announced that she will retire from Germany after this summer’s World Cup and she will hang up her cleats entirely following the National Women’s Soccer League season with Portland Thorns FC. The season ends in September.
“It was important that I was the one who decided when my time was up,” the 36-year-old Angerer said.
“My decision is final, which is why I decided to announce it before the World Cup, so everyone knows what is going on,” she said. “This will not have any impact on my – or the team’s – performance at the World Cup; if anything, it will be positive.
“I am absolutely fit and could play for another two, three years at the highest level. It is great to be able to say that my body is fine after almost 20 years of top-level sport. It was important that I was the one who decided when my time was up, and not an injury or someone else making that decision for me.”
Angerer has played for Germany 138 times. She has been Germany’s captain since 2011 and is owner of five European Championships and two World Cup titles.
Germany coach Silvia Neid, who will step down after this year, called Angerer “a special person” whom she trusts.
Germany will play Ivory Coast, Norway and Thailand in Group B at the World Cup.
