Bundesliga
Piszczek signs new Dortmund deal
Lukasz Piszczek has pushed back his retirement plans to sign a one-year contract extension with Borussia Dortmund, keeping him at the club until 2021.
Piszczek had stated he would end his professional career after his previous deal with Dortmund expired at the end of the 2019/20 campaign. However, the 34-year-old has now had a change of heart, and will play a 14th season in Germany.
"Lukasz Piszczek is a real leader in our team, and he's also in top shape physically," explained BVB's sporting director Michael Zorc. "It was only logical to extend his contract by another year."
Piszczek arrived in Germany as a teenager and spent six seasons at Hertha Berlin before joining Dortmund in 2010. Converted from midfielder to right-back, Piszczek was an integral part of Dortmund's back-to-back Bundesliga title-winning sides under Jürgen Klopp, and has played over 350 competitive games for Die Schwarzgelben.
Current Dortmund boss Lucien Favre has kept Piszczek in his side too, starting the Poland international as a centre-back in his three-man defence in every game but one since Matchday 17.
It is that level of involvement in the team's season - and their success in pushing Bayern Munich for the title - that has helped sway Piszczek, who had been set on hanging up his boots in 2020 before returning to the amateur side where his football journey started.
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"I will end my career in Dortmund," he told German sports magazine kicker two years ago. "So 2020 is a good date for that. I will return to Poland and – just for fun – play for my old club LKS Goczalkowice," said Piszczek, who made his 250th Bundesliga appearance earlier this season.
"It would be nothing more to do with professional football – I will only keep myself fit there."