Andre Schurrle: What the ex-Chelsea midfielder has been doing since retiring at 29 | OneFootball

It is probably a fair assessment to say that Andre Schurrle’s career peaked in Brazil on 13th July 2014.

Brought on as a substitute in the first half of the World Cup final against Argentina, the then-Chelsea man burst down the left flank in extra time and floated a cross into the box in the 113th minute.

His pass was exquisitely controlled by midfielder Mario Gotze, who then swiveled on the move and neatly poked the ball past Sergio Romero to win his country world football's most prestigious prize.

But nine years after that incredible match, the trajectories of the two men could not have been more different.

Messi would continue to dominate world football for the remainder of the 2010s, collecting three more Ballon d’Ors and multiple pieces of silverware too.

Schurrle, meanwhile, would retire in July 2020 at just 29 years old and now lives a very different lifestyle.

Just how good was Schurrle?

During his 11-year career, there was no shortage of glory for the World Cup winner.

His senior career began at Mainz in 2009 and the winger established himself as a bright talent in German football.

Schurrle would only spend two years at the Mewa Arena, playing 68 matches and scoring 20 goals, before making the switch to Bundesliga rivals Bayer Leverkusen.

It was there that he really rose to prominence in Germany, weighing in with 39 goal contributions in 83 matches.

To give an idea of just how highly rated he was, the winger was even named in the best U21 XI back in 2012.

After two more years at Bayer, Chelsea would come calling, and Schurrle would swap the Bundesliga for the Premier League in 2013.

More goals would follow in west London, including a hat trick against Fulham and one against Burnley too after THAT Cesc Fabregas pass.

But although Chelsea would go on to lift the Premier League in the 2014/15 season, Schurrle would not be at Stamford Bridge by the end of the campaign.

In February 2015, just a few months on from that night in Brazil, he would find himself out of the first team and would be sold to Wolfsburg.

Schurrle would ultimately become something of a journeyman, moving to Borussia Dortmund in 2016 and spending time on loan at Fulham and Spartak Moscow.

More trophies would come during that time, including two German Cups, but he would make a big call after returning from Russia.

Why did Schurrle retire?

In July 2020, Schurrle confirmed to the world that he had decided to retire from the sport at just 29 years old.

It came as something of a shock, given Schurrle was still so young, but the German international explained that he simply was not enjoying his football anymore.

“The decision has matured in me for a long time,” he told German newspaper De Spiegel, as per Sky Sports.

“I no longer need the applause. The depths became deeper and the highlights less and less.”

He would then confirm the news in a personal statement on social media, bringing down the curtain on a career that had seen him play 477 games for club and country.

“Now I'm ready and open for all the beautiful possibilities that are coming towards me,” he wrote.

Swapping football pitches to startup businesses

And Schurrle was not kidding when he said he was open to new opportunities.

Back in December 2020, shortly after he hung up his boots, a company spokesperson for the Sanity Group told German newspaper BILD that talks had been held with Schurrle and Gotze about investing in their project.

The firm was established in 2018 and grows cannabis for medicinal purposes.

The footballers were not the only two people who had reportedly been approached about investing in the company either.

Rapper Will.I.am and ex-footballer Dennis Aogo were also asked about investing in the company.

Schurrle is an investor in the fantasy football game Sorare too, a project also supported by Gerard Piqué, and most recently was reported to have invested in pizza company, Happy Slice.

BILD reported that both Schurrle and Gotze had teamed up again to invest in the new company which has 70 branches in 30 cities.

Gotze seems to possess an even greater interest in investing in businesses than his former Germany teammate, with BILD writing that he is said to have invested in more than 40 all over the world.

Schurrle continues to push himself to the limit

But while Gotze continues to turn out for Eintracht Frankfurt every week, Schurrle has been filling his time away from businesses in a very different way.

In January this year, the former Chelsea man revealed that he had taken part in a challenge designed by Dutch extreme athlete, Wim Hof.

Going off the images and videos that Schurrle shared on his Instagram account, it consisted of walking up a mountain in freezing temperatures without wearing a top.

In the posts to his social channels, he described how the temperatures dropped to -19 degrees and that it was, "The hardest mental and physical thing I ever did!”

But Schurrle seemingly got a lot from his initial experience, so much so that he decided to put himself in a similar environment once again.

He posted a video to his Instagram account this week, once again sporting nothing but shorts, shoes and gloves, climbing up the highest mountain in Germany at 2 am.

The mountain that he was trekking up was reportedly the Zugspitze, which has a peak of just below 3,000 metres above sea level.

To complete the climb in the dark at such an early hour only shows how much Schurrle has taken to his new life.

As well as climbing mountains without a shirt on, the ex-footballer also recently posted a video of him swimming in 10,000-year-old glacier water which was 0.5 degrees below freezing.

Pushing himself in extreme environments is something that Schurrle clearly enjoys doing. And while there might be some who wonder if his career after the 2014 World Cup could have gone differently, it is good to see him finding a passion away from the pitch.