Berlin (dpa) – The German Football Federation (DFB) will celebrate the careers of recent national team retirees Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski by announcing Tuesday they will play in farewell matches.
Podolski announced his retirement from the German national team on Monday after fellow 2014 World Cup champion Schweinsteiger had done the same on July 29.
The international friendly against Finland on August 31 in Moenchengladbach will be played under the motto «Servus, Basti»
(«Goodbye, Basti»). It will be the final time that Schweinsteiger will play for the German national team after having earned 120 caps.
Podolski is injured and will not be able to play against Finland, but German coach Joachim Loew has assured the veteran that he would receive a farewell match as well at a later date.
«Bastian and Lukas have rendered a great service to the German national team, the DFB and German football,» Loew said on the DFB website.
«I know that it will mean a lot to both of them to play for their country one last time. It really shows how important the national team has been for them.»
About Podolski missing the Finland friendly with an ankle injury, the coach said: «It is a shame that Lukas can’t play in Moenchengladbach.
However, I assured them that he will be able to personally say goodbye to the fans on the pitch one last time.»
Loew wants to give the Germany supporters one more chance to see Podolski play.
«We will find an opportunity to make up for him not being able to feature against Finland,» Loew said.
podolski and Schweinsteiger played for Germany for more than a decade, both making their debut in 2004 and both playing in every major international tournament since then. Their crowning achievement was the 2014 World Cup title in Brazil.
