Deniz Aytekin retires after this Bundesliga season

Top German referee Deniz Aytekin is ending his career as a referee after the upcoming Bundesliga season. Two other referees are also retiring.

As the German Football Association (DFB) announced on Wednesday, the 47-year-old, along with Tobias Welz (48) and Frank Willenborg (46), is facing his final season in German professional football. The three referees have already communicated their decisions internally before the start of the new season.

"Consciously letting go of something you love is not an easy decision – but a very considered one. I want to retire at a time when I'm still on the pitch with full conviction, passion, and clarity," Aytekin said. "It's important to me to be perceived as a person who is present and valued – not to leave only when doubts begin to arise. Therefore, my goal is to referee with full concentration and joy once again in the coming season and to look back on a long, positive, and fulfilling career."

Aytekin has been a regular fixture in the Bundesliga since 2008. He has officiated 241 matches to date, ranking him among the ten most frequently used referees. In 2017, he officiated the DFB Cup final between Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Dortmund.

Internationally, Aytekin officiated in 21 Champions League matches and was named "Referee of the Year" in Germany three times.

Welz joined the Bundesliga in 2010 and officiated, among other games, the 2020 DFB-Pokal final. Last season, he was the first referee to wear a so-called ref cam. At the beginning of last season, he said, "I had already decided that the 2025/26 season – my 27th season as a referee in professional football – would be my last on the pitch," Welz, who has officiated 143 top-flight matches to date, said: "Everything has its time, and after this season, the time is right for me to bring this very enjoyable, successful, and intense phase of my life to a close."

Willenborg refereed his 100th Bundesliga match at the end of last season. He has officiated in all three professional leagues and the DFB Cup. "I was able to decide for myself when I wanted to end my career. That was always important to me. To have reached the 100-match mark—and that as a latecomer—makes me proud. That's a fantastic number," Willenborg said.

Peter Sippel, the Bundesliga referees' sporting director, praised the three referees as "outstanding refereeing personalities" who had brought "a lot of quality" to the team of referees: "But the decisions do not catch us off guard, because we are in ongoing communication with all referees about their future career plans."