It's been 14 years of representing the same club throughout his whole career as a pro, Philipp Lahm is everything a German athlete could aspire to be. Not only does he perform at the highest level of competition, he is also honorable with the rivals and has always been grounded as a human being despite being incredibly famous due to his star-status in football. Both Bayern Munich and Germany owe Philipp Lahm a great deal, they will both surely repay him in the future after he retires from football completely. 

This retirement may be soon though, as Lahm hinted at a possible final decision in 2017, talking to Sport Bild he said: "Of course, retiring at the end of this season is something you can ponder. I cannot rule that out. I already said nine months ago that I could retire in 2017 and this has not changed. The season still has seven months or so to go and a lot can happen in that time. My future does not depend on how many titles we win, it depends on how my body feels, and then I will make a decision on my future.

"I want to be able to keep acting at the highest level and recognize when the time has come to retire. But I still have a contract until 2018, so I am in no rush to make a decision."

Photo credit: Philipp Lahm