Germany's Ilkay Gundogan has announced his retirement from the national team. 

In a post on social media he said "After a few weeks of consideration, I have come to the conclusion that it is time to end my national team career."

 "I look back with great pride on 82 international matches for my home country – a number I could never have dreamed of when I made my debut for the senior national team in 2011."

Having made 82 appearances for Germany, Gundogan has scored 19 goals and delivered nine assists. He participated in the UEFA European Championship at home between June and July as captain. Germany lost to the final champions Spain 2-1 in the quarterfinals.

"My highlight was definitely the huge honor of being able to lead the team as captain at our home European Championship last summer!" Gundogan wrote. "After all these years, we finally managed to make the nation proud again – I'm very happy that I was able to play a part in that. But even before the tournament, I felt a certain tiredness in my body and also in my head, which made me think. And the number of games at club and national level is not coming down."

"I will definitely continue to be a fan of this national team and I really hope that we can continue the upward trend together – and then there is nothing to stop us from being one of the prime contenders for the title at the 2026 World Cup. We have a fantastic coach, a really strong squad and a great team spirit," he added.

Gundogan joined Barcelona as a free agent in July 2023, getting five goals and 14 assists for the club in the 2023-24 season. However, his future with the La Liga powerhouse has grown uncertain as the club struggled with player registration issues.