BERLIN (REUTERS) - Borussia Dortmund and Germany winger Marco Reus has been fined more than half a million euros for driving without a licence for years.

The 25-year-old international, who has been advertising the club's car sponsor and has also been in ads for a petrol company, received speeding tickets on at least five occasions since 2011 before the authorities realised that he had been driving without a licence ever since.

"I decided back then to take that road but the reasons I did it are something I cannot really understand today," Reus, a transfer target for many top European clubs, was quoted as telling Bild newspaper on Wednesday.

Dortmund's prosecutor's office said the fine was 540,000 euros (S$880,000) related to incidents from 2011 until this March. "Today I know that I was too naive and that it was stupid. I have learnt my lesson and this will not happen again," Reus said.

The club said they had discussed the matter with the player who said he had made a "stupid" mistake.

"He has promised such a thing will not happen again," club spokesman Sascha Fligge told reporters. "We see no reason to doubt his words because we hold Marco both as a player and as a person in high regard."

Reus, who missed Germany's World Cup triumph in July after picking up an injury in the final warm-up game, is currently out with another ankle injury.