Ex-Bundesliga striker wins lottery

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Former Bundesliga striker Tommy Bechmann received a fantastic boost to his pension pot recently after winning the Danish lottery just months after retiring from professional football.

The 35-year-old, who scored 13 goals in 82 appearances for Bochum in the German top flight, was on holiday with his family when he received news of his 5 million krone (around £585,000) windfall.

As always, Bechmann used the birth dates of his children as his lottery numbers, but had only ever won small amounts of money in the past.

"I checked the sender's address and saw that it was the same one that had notified me when I had won 50 krone before," he told Ekstrabladet.

"I called [lottery organisers] Danske Spil and they confirmed the news to me.

"The winter holiday will probably be a little more luxurious than planned."

As well as Bochum, Bechmann also played for Freiburg in Germany, as well as enjoying successful stints at Esbjerg and SonderjyskE in his native Denmark, where he hung up his boots back in January.

All of a sudden, his retirement plans are looking all the more auspicious.