Jens Nowotny has bid farewell to the world of football with a gala testimonial featuring some of the stars of the Bundesliga.
The former Bayer Leverkusen defender capped 48 times by Germany played out a highly entertaining 8-6 game in front of 20,000 fans at KarlsruheÂ’s Wildparkstadion.
Playing against his home town club, Nowotny was joined by stars such as Kevin Kuranyi, Oliver Neuville, Thomas Häßler, Jens Lehmann, Per Mertesacker and Gerald Asamoah as his ended his active playing career.
The majority of the proceeds from the game will be donated to a German childrenÂ’s hospice.
Nowotny started his career with KSC as a 14 year old, and was forced to retire in January through injury. The veteran suffered a total of four knee ligament damage injuries during his career with Bayer Leverkusen.
Due to another knee injury the players cancelled his contract with Dinamo Zagreb which ran to 2009.
Besides his 48 international caps, Nowotny made 334 Bundesliga appearances scoring 11 goals.
The high point of his career was representing his country at the World Cup on home soil when he played in the 3rd/4th place play off against Portugal.