Lukasz Piszczek to rejoin hometown club after retirement

Piszczek had initially planned to hang up his playing boots last summer, but he signed a one-year extension to see out his 14th and final campaign of Bundesliga football.

It was at that point the former Poland international, who turns 36 in June, announced his intentions to link back up with Goczalkowice in his country's third tier, something he still plans to do a year on.

"I have concrete plans in Poland and have already postponed these plans for a year," he said in 2020. "I want to play with friends from my hometown club Goczalkowice, where my father is vice-president, and take care of the youth academy that we started in 2019."

Maintaining his match fitness isn't Piszczek's only reason for returning to his boyhood club. In recent years, he has been working towards establishing the Lukasz Piszczek BVB Academy in Goczalkowice, in partnership with Dortmund.

"I grew up here, this is where I developed into the man I am today, which is why I wanted to give something back."

Watch: Owo meets... Lukaskz Piszczek

Ahead of his belated homecoming, Piszczek will have up to five opportunities to add to his 378 competitive appearances as a Dortmund player.

BVB still have three Bundesliga fixtures left of the 2020/21 season, and they face RB Leipzig in the DFB Cup semi-finals on 8 May. On Matchday 34 Bayer Leverkusen provide the opposition for what should be his final professional outing on 22 May.

Piszczek is a two-time Bundesliga and three-time DFB Cup winner, and also got his hands on three German Supercups after moving to Dortmund from Hertha Berlin in summer 2010.

To date, the veteran defender has made 330 Bundesliga appearances for Dortmund and Hertha, registering 19 goals and 49 assists.