Revealed: How Mats Hummels 'reacted to his ex-wife's fury' after she complained their son, 7, 'had NOT been invited' to Borussia Dortmund farewell match - while he celebrated with model girlfriend 10 years his junior
The 36-year-old defender, who left Dortmund at the end of the 2023-24 season, returned to the club for a farewell friendly match between his old team and Juventus last Sunday.
Hummels captained the Bundesliga side for the opening 18 minutes of the match, officially marking his retirement from professional football in front of 80,000 fans at the Signal Iduna Park.
The former Germany international, who made 508 appearances in all competitions for Dortmund, was surprisingly not joined by his son Ludwig at the match - and was instead cheered on by his 26-year-old model girlfriend Nicola Cavanis.
On the morning of the match, Hummels' ex-wife Cathy shared a photo of their son on social media, showing the seven-year-old next to a newspaper featuring Hummels on the back page with the headline 'Mats gut'.
She wrote: 'Someone stole my cap and read about Dad's farewell in the newspaper. So he knows what it was like'.
In a follow-up message later in the day, Cathy angrily confirmed that she had been unaware of Hummels' farewell match and claimed she had only discovered it when reading the newspaper.
She wrote: 'To clarify, we are not intentionally missing Mats Hummels' final game. I put my son an extra newspaper so he can read everything.'
'The reason we are NOT there is simply gone: We were NOT invited or knew about it. We are now enjoying our wonderful vacation with the family again.
'Goodbye Aussenrist 15. Congratulations on your remarkable career.'
Hummels reportedly declined to comment when contacted by Bild for a response to his ex-wife's claim.
Now, Cathy has revealed how the footballer responded to her frustration, admitting the 'unfortunate' situation has now been resolved.
In a new Instagram story, she said: 'I am a lion mum, and if my son is wronged or treated unfairly, I will fight for him. He is my everything.
'Mats apologised to him, and so I'm also appeased. The matter was unfortunate, but it's now resolved.'
Cavanis earned fame by modelling for a series of brands including Nivea and Victoria's Secret
Cathy pictured with the Germany international at Oktoberfest in Munich back in 2017
Cathy had previously claimed in a separate interview with Bild that she was 'raising (their) son more or less on (her) own'.
Hummels had split with his ex-wife in 2022 following seven years of marriage.
A year later, Hummels went public with his new girlfriend Cavanis, who has earned fame by modelling for the likes of Nivea, Puma, Victoria's Secret, MCM, New Yorker and Tchibo.
Hummels had represented Dortmund in two spells, with the defender initially playing for the club between 2009 and 2016, before moving to Bayern Munich.
He returned for a second spell between 2019 and 2024, with the latter ending after an alleged bust-up with then manager Edin Terzic after the Champions League final last year.
Hummels then had a season in Serie A with Roma, before the veteran defender opted to retire this summer.
He claimed five Bundesliga titles during his career, two with Dortmund and three with Bayern, along with three German Cups and five Super Cups.
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