Sebastian Polter has left FC Schalke 04 on loan to Darmstadt 98. There he broke a Bundesliga record.

Sebastian Polter didn’t have to wait long. The 32-year-old celebrated his debut for Darmstadt 98 on Saturday – less than 48 hours after the bottom club had loaned the striker from FC Schalke 04 until the end of the season.

In the 2-0 home defeat against leaders Bayer Leverkusen, Polter came on after just over an hour – the final score was already on the scoreboard at this point – and failed to make any notable impact in front of goal.

But at least Polter secured himself a place in the Bundesliga history books. With his first appearance for Darmstadt, Polter has now played for seven different clubs in the German top flight. Only Michael Spies, whose record from the 80s and 90s was broken by Polter on Saturday, could claim that before

In December 2011, Polter celebrated his Bundesliga debut in a VfL Wolfsburg shirt. The attacker did not stay anywhere for long in the following years. In addition to spells abroad in England and the Netherlands, Polter was under contract with 1. FC Nürnberg, Mainz 05, Union Berlin, VfL Bochum and Schalke.

Polter played a total of 117 games in the Bundesliga, scoring 21 goals. He made the most appearances for VfL Bochum (33). In the 2021/22 season, he missed just one game and scored ten times – from a personal perspective, it was also Polter’s most successful season

A noisy transfer to Schalke followed. There, Polter was unable to build on his VfL values, but he decided to stay after relegation. Over the course of the first half of the season, Polter slipped further and further down the striker hierarchy and ultimately played a subordinate role under coach Karel Geraerts.

Shortly before the transfer deadline, he was loaned to Darmstadt. His aim is to help the Lilies avoid relegation. “I’m happy to be playing for Darmstadt and to be back in the Bundesliga. I’ll do everything I can to help the team and use my experience in the fight to avoid relegation,” said Polter on his transfer. And if that doesn’t work out, the Wilhelmshaven native can at least look forward to setting a Bundesliga record