Kostas Mitroglou has retired from professional football. At the age of 34, the former Benfica striker joined Rheurdt-Schaephuysen, a club in Germany’s region and amateur league, the Kreisliga A Moers, in the Düsseldorf region, near the border with the Netherlands. Resounding reinforcements were announced on Friday. Without a club since last summer, having ended his relationship with the Greeks at Aris, Mitroglou accepted the request of Rheurdt-Schaephuysen coach, Robert Kruppa, with whom he was a partner in MSV Duisburg’s youth teams. “We don’t have any background donors, just a new sponsor who donates a bunch of new shirts. Kostas is a good friend who wants to play football with us again,” Krupa explained, citing the “NRZ” newspaper. .
The task is daunting. The Greek international (65 appearances, 17 goals) will try to help the new club secure maintenance. Rheurdt-Schaephuysen is 20th and last, ten points clear of the standings. The tournament returns in February and the striker could make his debut on the 12th, at the visit of ESV Hohenbudberg.
Mitroglou leaves behind a long journey, with passages through Greek, English, Portuguese, French, Dutch and Turkish football. In Germany, in addition to the aforementioned MSV Duisburg, he played in the secondary formation of Borussia M’gladbach. In total, there are 505 matches and 210 goals with a senior player.
In our country, he represented Benfica, in 2015/16 and 2016/17, the last two matches of the fourth championship. In addition to being twice crowned national champion, under the leadership of Rui Vitória it has won the Super Cup, the Portuguese Cup and the League Cup. In other words, he won everything he was going to win in Portugal.
With 41 Champions League appearances, Mitroglou played his last match as a professional on July 21, 2021, in Aris’ visit to Astana, after he came on in the 63rd minute. It was, by the way, the only match he played in 2021/22. This follows a new challenge in the career of the striker, who was born in Greece but holds German citizenship.
