Sebastian Rudy and TSG end their cooperation

"Sebastian is an extremely worthy player who has been outstanding on both a sporting and a human level in all his years at TSG Hoffenheim," said Alexander Rosen, adding: "Sippi developed into an international at TSG and has always assumed responsibility as a leading player – on and off the pitch. Despite such a successful career in sporting terms, he has remained grounded and put himself at the team's service at all times. Even last season, which was difficult from a sporting point of view, we could always rely on him – he was always there when he was needed. His word always carried weight in the dressing room and there is probably nobody at the club who doesn't like him. That's one of the reasons why we've already held initial discussions with him about a possible future at TSG after his playing career. Because the doors at Hoffenheim will always be open to such an extremely positive person," continued Rosen, who regrets "that Sippi was not able to bid a proper farewell to the TSG supporters due to the difficult and tense sporting situation last season". Rosen therefore emphasised: "Amends will be made for this as soon as possible. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank him for his many years of commitment to TSG and wish him all the best for his footballing future."

"I owe TSG a great deal and have spent the majority of my career in Hoffenheim. I became a Germany international here  and have experienced many highs and also several lows with the club," commented Sebastian Rudy: "It is the nice moments that prevail for me, like the successful promotion/relegation play-off against 1. FC Kaiserslautern, the fourth place in the Bundesliga in the 2016/17 season and the appearances with TSG in the Europa League. I've now entered a phase of my career where I would like to carefully consider how things could move forward for me in footballing terms. Perhaps there will be another step. I certainly still want to play football and I'm open to new things. But no matter what happens, I'll always have TSG, their supporters and the entire region in my heart."

Rudy transferred to TSG from VfB Stuttgart in August 2010 at the age of 20. Over the past 14 years, the 29-time Germany international and 2018 World Cup participant has played 295 Bundesliga matches for Hoffenheim to become TSG's record outfield appearance-maker – despite spells with FC Bayern Munich and FC Schalke 04 during that time. Rudy, who everyone simply calls "Sippi", was only overtaken in terms of Bundesliga appearances by keeper and TSG captain Oliver Baumann last season (296).

In his first years at TSG in particular, the now 33-year-old established himself as an undisputed regular starter and pulled the strings in the TSG midfield with his composure and confidence on the ball. After the successful promotion/relegation play-off against 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the 2012/13 season, Rudy made his debut in national team colours only one year later and and then performed strongly for the club as TSG finished the 2016/17 campaign in fourth position in the table and qualified for the Champions League.

In addition to his 295 Bundesliga appearances, Rudy has played 23 times for TSG in the DFB-Pokal and on seven occasions in the Europa League. Across all competitions, the 33-year-old scored 17 goals and notched 47 assists. He also won the 2017/18 Bundesliga title and the Supercup in both 2017 and 2018 with FC Bayern Munich.