They started life together and will end their careers together.

Lars and Sven Bender, German football’s most famous twins, will hang up their boots at the end of the season when their Bayer Leverkusen contracts expire.

Having started their careers with 1860 Munich, both sought newer pastures ahead of the 2009-10 campaign, with Lars, older of the two by 11 minutes, moving to Leverkusen and Sven heading to Borussia Dortmund.

They were reunited at Leverkusen when Sven joined the club in 2017 and the Bender brothers have since spent four seasons together at the BayArena.

The former Germany internationals, who turn 32 in April, said they did not feel they would be able to continue playing consistently at the same “high level” next season after sustaining various injuries in recent years.

“We felt a responsibility to the club to inform them of this decision in good time,” the twins said in a statement. “At the end of the day, it was not a decision against the club but about health and family. We recognise it will be difficult to play football at this high level beyond the summer.”

The club’s sporting director, Rudi Voeller, praised their professionalism and commitment over the years.

“We need their qualities in the remaining six months to achieve our big targets,” Voeller added.

“And regarding Lars, I’ve hardly seen another player at Leverkusen who has identified so much with Bayer 04. We owe Lars a huge amount of gratitude.”

Unlike other football twins, Sven and Lars, who are almost identical, have each spent the entirety of their career in the German league.

Perhaps the most famous twin brothers of the game are Frank and Ronald de Boer. The former Dutch internationals are among the Netherlands’ greatest players ever, and both starred for FC Barcelona during their careers.

They were preceded by Rene and Willy van de Kerkhof, who played for both FC Twente and PSV together. They also played for Netherlands in the 1974 and 1978 World Cups.

Other famous footballing twins include Fabio and Rafael da Silva, both of whom were once on Manchester United books, Zimbabwean duo Elvis and Kelvin Moyo, and Russia’s Vasili and Aleksei Berezutski.

Manchester United and France star Paul Pogba has twin older brothers, Florentin and Mathias, who have both represented Guinea at the international level.