A year ago, Cedric Brunner ended his career. The former Schalke player recently put an end to a chapter that had accompanied him throughout his entire professional career.

At age 30, former Schalke pro Cedric Brunner ended his professional career in January 2025. The Swiss player called it quits after spending half a year without a club following the expiration of his contract with S04 in the summer of 2024.

The 31-year-old has retired from professional soccer, but he regularly shares glimpses of his time as an active player on his Instagram account. Brunner also addresses serious topics in his posts. For example, in a Reel set to sad music, he revealed to his more than 40,000 followers that he regularly consumed alcohol throughout his entire soccer career.

“I wasn’t an alcoholic, but I found it kind of special that January 2026 was my first alcohol-free month in 14 years,” the former Schalke player admitted. During that time, he played soccer for twelve and a half years, ten of them as a professional.

He said he didn’t want to be celebrated for it, and that his decision had nothing to do with the “Dry January” trend—giving up alcohol for the first month of the year. Brunner explained that there were very serious reasons behind it. “I needed that outlet. To unwind once a week after a game, just forget about it all and—as harsh as it sounds—numb myself,” explained the former Swiss junior national team player. Brunner received a lot of support for his video; among others, his former S04 teammate Marius Müller liked the post.

Cedric Brunner played in 86 Bundesliga matches for Schalke 04 and Arminia Bielefeld

Brunner began his career at FC Zurich, where he made 104 appearances and won the Swiss Cup twice. In 2018, the right back left his home country and moved to Germany to join Arminia Bielefeld. Over four years, Brunner played 111 games for Arminia and celebrated promotion to the Bundesliga as the second-division champion in the 2019–20 season. He made 58 appearances for the East Westphalian club in the top flight before moving to FC Schalke in the summer of 2022.

In the 2022–23 season, he made 28 starts for Schalke; he missed the remaining six games due to injury. He was unable to prevent the Royal Blues’ immediate relegation back to the 2nd Bundesliga. After one year with Schalke in the second division and a total of 47 appearances, Brunner was not offered a new contract.