Dortmund's Santana joins rival Schalke

By foxsports
Published

Schalke has signed Brazilian defender Felipe Santana from local rival Borussia Dortmund.

Schalke said Tuesday that the 27-year-old Santana is joining on a three-year contract. His signing comes after former Germany defender Christoph Metzelder retired.

Santana joined Dortmund from Figueirense in 2008. He played for Dortmund, Schalke's bitter local rival in the Bundesliga, in 95 league matches and 10 Champions League games.

Dortmund earlier Tuesday announced the signing of Greek defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos from Bundesliga rival Werder Bremen.

Dortmund said Tuesday that it gave the 24-year-old Papastathopoulos a five-year contract. It said the two clubs agreed not to disclose further details of the transfer deal.

Papastathopoulos joined Bremen from Italian club Genoa two seasons ago. He says he benefited from the time with Bremen and added: ''Now it was time for me to take the next step.''