Lars and Sven Bender have announced their retirement. In summer, the twins stop when they are 32 years old.
“After a long period of reflection and countless mind games”: Lars and Sven Bender end their professional careers.
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As Bayer Leverkusen announced on Monday, the Benders will not renew their contract that expires at the end of the season.
“After a long period of reflection and countless mind games regarding our future, we finally came to the decision that we would not continue our journey with Bayer 04. We felt it was our responsibility to communicate this decision to the club at an early stage,” said the twins in one joint opinion cited.
“Decision for health and the family”
The decision was “anything but easy,” they say. “Ultimately, it wasn’t a decision against the club, but for our health and the family. We realized that it would be difficult to play football at this high level beyond the summer. Everyone who knows us knows that we are everyone Give 100 percent on the day. That this has always been the basic requirement for us in training and in the game. Unfortunately, it is increasingly difficult for us to continuously access this with all the pain and physical problems that we are suffering from more and more. ”
Lars Bender had already moved to Bayer 04 from 1860 Munich in 2009, and in 2017 brother Sven “followed” after eight years at Borussia Dortmund. Lars has played 252 Bundesliga games (21 goals), Sven 255 (eight). In their professional careers, however, both of them regularly had to deal with all kinds of injuries.
In 2009 the twins were U-19 European champions together – and together they were named player of the tournament. At the Olympic Games in 2016 they won silver side by side in Horst Hrubesch’s team (“What better than the Benders has never happened to me”). For the German national team, Lars has 19 internationals (four goals), Sven seven. While Sven did not participate in the World Cup or European Championship, Lars was at EURO 2012. He missed the 2014 World Cup after being nominated for the provisional squad due to an injury.
There are only a few players like Lars and Sven in the Bundesliga. They stand for football class, extreme professionalism and absolute reliability.
Sports director Rudi Völler praises the “extraordinary sporting life performance of the two Bender brothers. There are only a few players like Lars and Sven in the Bundesliga. They stand for football class, extreme professionalism and absolute reliability, for willpower and commitment.”
Both would give 100 percent in the Leverkusen jersey until the end. Völler continued: “And when it comes to Lars, I have hardly seen another player in Leverkusen who identified as much with Bayer 04 as he did. We owe Lars a big thank you.” Before the season, the Leverkusen veteran resigned from his captaincy after five years.
