Nine-time Rally Champion Loeb Signs for Hamilton's Extreme E Team

Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 14, 2019 Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton during the press conference REUTERS/Edgar Su
Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 14, 2019 Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton during the press conference REUTERS/Edgar Su
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Nine-time Rally Champion Loeb Signs for Hamilton's Extreme E Team

Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 14, 2019 Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton during the press conference REUTERS/Edgar Su
Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 14, 2019 Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton during the press conference REUTERS/Edgar Su

Lewis Hamilton on Friday revealed he had signed nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb for his Extreme E team, a motorsport series aimed at raising the profile of global environmental issues.

Also joining the seven-time Formula One world champion's team is Spain's Cristina Gutierrez, who in 2017 became the first woman to finish the Dakar Rally.

Loeb and Gutierrez will race for the X44 team in the inaugural Extreme E season which begins in 2021.

"I'm delighted to welcome Sebastien and Cristina to X44," said Hamilton.

"They are both incredible drivers and I'm looking forward to seeing what they're going to do out there at each race.

"Cristina is an upcoming talent with a great future ahead of her, and Sebastien is a driver I have admired for so many years so I'm so proud and excited to have them on board."

The championship, which features electric off-road SUV vehicles, will start in March.

It will be raced in five remote locations deemed to be already damaged or severely under threat of climate change from a range of issues including melting ice caps, deforestation and rising sea levels.

The five sites chosen include races in the Amazon region of Brazil and in the Arctic in Greenland.



Thomas Muller Bids Farewell to Bayern Munich with Loss in Club World Cup

05 July 2025, US, Atlanta: Munich's Thomas Muller sits on the bench ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup quarterfinal soccer match against between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. (dpa)
05 July 2025, US, Atlanta: Munich's Thomas Muller sits on the bench ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup quarterfinal soccer match against between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. (dpa)
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Thomas Muller Bids Farewell to Bayern Munich with Loss in Club World Cup

05 July 2025, US, Atlanta: Munich's Thomas Muller sits on the bench ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup quarterfinal soccer match against between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. (dpa)
05 July 2025, US, Atlanta: Munich's Thomas Muller sits on the bench ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup quarterfinal soccer match against between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. (dpa)

After the final whistle to his Club World Cup, Thomas Muller waved to the Bayern Munich fans one last time.

His quarter-century with the German club is over.

The 35-year-old Muller went out with a 2-0 loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the quarterfinals on Saturday, a bittersweet ending to a tenure filled with so much glory.

Muller came on as a substitute in the 80th minute and appeared to draw a penalty in the waning seconds of stoppage time when PSG's Nuno Mendes delivered a high challenge in the area.

But the video review showed that Mendes' foot struck the ball, just missing Muller's chin, and that finished off the PSG victory.

“I'm still fully in work mode now,” Muller said. “It doesn't feel much different from before the game when we tried, and I also tried, to just get one round further.”

He wasn't ready to reflect on his brilliant career at Bayern, which began when he joined the club as a 10-year-old in the summer of 2000.

“In the end, maybe we deserved more,” Muller said. “But in football when you have these tight matches, it's sometimes a coin flip. And, yes, we lost it.”

Muller made more appearances than any other player at Bayern, with more than 200 goals scored and more than 200 set up for others. He led the club to a record 13 Bundesliga titles, going out with one last championship this past season.

But Bayern announced in April that it would not extend his hefty contract for another season.

“Of course, I am aware that this was my last game, and I will see what goes through my head in the coming days,” Muller said.

He hasn't revealed his future plans, though there have been reports linking him to a possible move to US-based Major League Soccer.

“At the moment, I'm not in the mood to share my deeper thoughts about my career,” Muller said. “We lost a big fight, a very important game for us.”