Galaxy’s Todd Dunivant announces he’ll retire at the end of the season

Galaxy defender Todd Dunivant, who has won five Major League Soccer titles in a 13-year career, announced Wednesday that he will retire at the end of the season.

A stalwart on the backline who started at least 24 games seven times, Dunivant has been limited by injuries to just 10 MLS appearances the last two seasons.

“At some point you’ve got to listen to your body. And my body is telling I’ve given it all I can,” Dunivant said.

A four-year starter at Stanford, Dunivant, 34, was the first college senior taken in the 2003 MLS SuperDraft. He started his pro career in San Jose, where he won his first MLS title as a rookie, playing alongside Landon Donovan. Both Donovan and Dunivant came to the Galaxy in 2005 with Dunivant eventually moving on to the New York Red Bulls and Toronto FC before returning to the Galaxy for good in 2009.

In 2011, he was an MLS best XI selection and in 2006 he made his only two appearances for the national team under Coach Bruce Arena, now his coach with the Galaxy.

In addition to his play on the field, Dunivant’s biggest contribution to MLS may have come through his work as a longtime member of the union’s executive committee, where he helped hammer out the last two collective bargaining agreements with the league’s ownership, narrowly avoiding work stoppages both times.

Dunivant has spent part of this season as a studio analyst for Time Warner Sports’ coverage of Galaxy games. His last appearance in an MLS game came on July 17, when he played the final minute off the bench against San Jose.

However if Dunivant returns to the field this fall and the Galaxy win another MLS title, he would tie Donovan’s record for most championships with six.

“It would be great,” Dunivant said of the record. “Every athlete would love to out on top. But we know how hard that’s going to be.”

Twitter: @kbaxter11