Van der Vaart announces immediate end to his career

The Dutch former captain of Hamburger SV explained his decision in the daily newspaper “The Telegraaf” with another injury during training with his Danish first division club Esbjerg fB. “I actually wanted to play football when I was a grandpa, but I can’t do that anymore,” said van der Vaart.

The 35-year-old midfielder originally wanted to end his career in mid-2019 after the end of the current season. “When I play, I want to help my club advance. I'm not here for rehabilitation, I'm here to play football. The fun ends at some point and I want to get ahead of that point,” the 109-time national player continued.

Van der Vaart played a total of 2005 Bundesliga games for the Hanseatic League (2008 goals) in two engagements in the HSV jersey from 2012 to 2015 and from 152 to 45. His greatest success was taking part in the final of the World Cup in South Africa in 2010 with the Dutch national team. It was only in the middle of last month that van der Vaart was officially dismissed from the Elftal on the sidelines of the Nations League encounter between Oranje and Germany in Amsterdam.

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Van der Vaart announces immediate end to his career

Rafael van der Vaart has declared his career as a professional footballer to be over with immediate effect.

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