West Ham defender and German international Katharina Baunach has announced her retirement from football.

Baunach moved to West Ham last summer from Vfl Wolfsburg and made 17 appearances for the club. She scored three goals for the Hammers across all competitions this season.

She told the club website: “I have considered my decision long and hard and, having talked about it with family and close friends, I will be retiring from football this summer.

“I’m really grateful to West Ham United for my time with the club. This has been a huge experience for me, and I am thankful for this opportunity to have played in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League. My teammates and the behind-the-scenes staff have been wonderful to work with and I will never forget this time in my career."

Before playing for Wolfsburg, Baunach played for Bayern Munich for 11 years. She won the Frauen Bundesliga title twice, the DFB-Pokal once and played 286 times for the club.

She then moved to Wolfsburg in 2017 where she won the double-double in the German league as the side claimed the Frauen Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal titles in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons.

She also has two German international caps to her name.