World Champion Niels Giffey has announced his retirement from the German national team. The forward for FC Bayern Munich confirmed this in an interview with the SZ.
“I decided after the Olympics that this was the last summer for me with the national team, now I’m making it official,” the 33-year-old said in an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung. The forward has played 118 games for Germany since 2013, the highlight of his career being the sensational 2023 World Cup triumph in Manila.
The team narrowly missed out on another major success last summer, finishing fourth at the Olympic Games in Paris. He had thought about it “even before the Olympics,” Giffey said, “if we hadn’t qualified, I would have taken this step earlier. Summer is the only free time of the year for the family. I talked to my wife after Paris while on vacation – and we were on the same wavelength.”
Giffey: The national team was like a family
The family often had to take a back seat, but “the whole project” of the national team was worth “putting other things aside”. Especially in the last five or six years, it felt like a family you could come back to. It was just awesome. You knew you were going to have a great time with the guys. The team spirit grew stronger and stronger. At the same time, a generation of players came along who got better and better, with a few moving on to the NBA.”
The World Cup title is ‘probably’ the best moment of his career, even though Giffey only played a minor role. ”My influence was pretty small in Manila. But it was surreal.” He quickly informed the new national team coach Alex Mumbru of his decision. ‘He asked me during a visit to Munich what my situation was and that he would like to have me on the team. I told him: the situation is what it is – finito!’ said Giffey.
However, he does not yet see an end to his career at the club either: “I still have a bit of juice left in my legs. I also hope that the free time slots in the summer will help me to recover better.”
