Toni Kroos (born 4 January 1990) is a German former professional footballer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time, he was known for his vision, passing, crossing, and set-piece ability.[note 1] Kroos played mainly as a central midfielder and occasionally played as a defensive midfielder. Kroos is the most decorated German football player, as he won 34 trophies over his 17 year career.[9]
_(cropped).jpg)
Kroos began his senior club career at Bayern Munich, where he debuted at age 17 in 2007. He was used sparingly for Bayern and he went on loan to fellow Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusenfor 18 months, where he became a key contributor. He returned to his parent club in 2010. With Bayern, Kroos won three Bundesliga titles (including two consecutive titles), a UEFA Champions League, two DFB-Pokal trophies, and was named in the Bundesliga Team of the Season three times. In 2014, he joined Real Madrid for a €25 million transfer.[10]
In Madrid, Kroos won twenty-one trophies, including four La Liga titles and five UEFA Champions League trophies, three of which he won consecutively from 2016 to 2018. He was named in the Champions League team of the season each time. He was named in the FIFA FIFPRO World 11 and UEFA Team of the Year three times each, and the La Liga Team of the Season twice.[11][12] He was named the IFFHS World's Best Playmaker in 2014 and German Footballer of the Year in 2018 and 2024.
Kroos won the Golden Player award at the 2006 UEFA European Under-17 Championship and the Golden Ball at the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup. He made his senior team debut for Germany in 2010, at age 20, and appeared in seven major tournaments. With 114 international matches for Germany, Kroos is one of the top ten most capped German players. Kroos helped Germany win the 2014 FIFA World Cup, where he was top assister and named in the All-Star Team and Dream Team. At UEFA Euro 2016, he was named in the Team of the Tournament. In 2024, Kroos retired from professional football.[13]
Early life
Kroos was born in Greifswald, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, on 4 January 1990.[14] He was born in the last year of East Germany’s existence, several weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall and nine months before German reunification.[15] His mother Britta was an East German national badminton champion[15] and his father Roland was also a footballer and at that time, he managed Hansa Rostock’s youth team.[16] He has a younger brother, Felix Kroos, who was also a professional footballer.[16] During his youth, he was a mediocre student and spent a lot of time practicing football,[16] however, he was well-behaved in class and well-liked among his peers at school.[16]
Club career
Early career
Kroos first played for local club Greifswalder SC, later transferring to the youth team of Hansa Rostock. Kroos moved to Bayern Munich's youth setup in 2006. Kroos was missing up to 40 days during the school year due to training.[16]
For the 2007–08 season, at the age of 17, Kroos was promoted to Bayern's senior team. He made an astounding start to his Bundesliga career, making his debut for Bayern on 26 September 2007 in a 5–0 defeat of Energie Cottbus and twice assisting Miroslav Klose goals within 18 minutes of his appearance as a substitute.[17] At the time of his debut, Kroos was the youngest player ever to represent Bayern in a professional match at 17 years, 265 days old, a record since broken by David Alaba in 2010.[18] On 25 October, Kroos earned Bayern a valuable victory away to Red Star Belgrade on his UEFA Cup debut, coming on as a substitute in the 81st minute and providing an assist for Miroslav Klose and then scoring the winning goal, his first for the club, in stoppage time.[19] He made his first start for the club in a 3–1 defeat away at VfB Stuttgart.[citation needed] Kroos ended his first season with 20 appearances for Bayern, including six starts. He also scored three goals in 12 appearances for Bayern Munich II in the Regionalliga Süd.[citation needed]
Despite being selected to start in Bayern's opening 2008–09 Bundesliga match against Hamburger SV, Kroos appeared less frequently for die Roten during the first half of the 2008–09 season. On 5 November 2008, however, he made his UEFA Champions League debut as a 79th-minute substitute against Fiorentina in matchday four of the group stage.[20]
Loan at Bayer Leverkusen
On 31 January 2009, Bayern allowed Kroos to join Bayer Leverkusen on an 18-month loan to gain first team experience.[21] He made his debut on 28 February as a substitute in a 1–0 defeat against Hannover 96. On 12 April, he made his first Bundesliga start for Leverkusen, assisting the team's goal in a 1–1 draw with Werder Bremen. On 18 April 2009, he scored his first Bundesliga goal in a 2–1 loss to VfL Wolfsburg.[citation needed] On 30 May, Kroos appeared as a late substitute in the 2009 DFB-Pokal Final against Werder Bremen, where Leverkusen were beaten 1–0 by a Mesut Özil goal.[22] During the 2008–09 season, Kroos made 13 appearances for Leverkusen in all competitions, scoring once.[citation needed] Kroos established himself as a regular in the Leverkusen team in 2009–10, appearing all but one of Bayer's Bundesliga matches. Between matchdays 16 and 20, Kroos registered five goals and four assists in five Bundesliga matches, earning him back-to-back "player of the month" awards from kicker for December 2009 and January 2010.[23] He ended the season with nine goals and 12 assists from 33 matches.[citation needed]
Bayern Munich
.JPG)
In the summer of 2010, on the expiration of his loan at Bayer Leverkusen, Kroos returned to Bayern Munich. When asked about his first team chances with Bayern, runner-up in the previous season's Champions League, Kroos stated, "I want to play as often as possible!"[24]
On 16 August 2010, he started against Germania Windeck in the first round of the DFB-Pokal, scoring the third goal in a 4–0 victory. On 29 October 2010, he scored his first league goal for the club, in a 4–1 win for the Bavarians against SC Freiburg. During the 2010–11 season, Kroos was a regular starter for Bayern in the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and Champions League. He ended the season with 37 appearances in all competitions.[citation needed]
During 2011–12, under Jupp Heynckes, his former coach at Leverkusen, Kroos established himself as a first choice player from Bayern, forming a strong midfield partnership with national teamcolleague Bastian Schweinsteiger. He played 51 matches in all competitions during the season, including the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final, where Bayern were beaten on penalties by Chelsea at the Allianz Arena.[citation needed]
Kroos was an important member of Bayern's treble-winning team during the 2012–13 season. As the most advanced member of a midfield containing Schweinsteiger and Javi MartÃnez, Kroos scored three goals in the team's opening four Bundesliga matches. He also scored his first Champions League goal in Bayern's opening group match against Valencia. After sustaining an injury in the first leg of the Champions Leaguequarter-final against Juventus,[25] Kroos was unavailable for the remainder of the season, missing Bayern's successes in the 2013 UEFA Champions League Final, the 2013 DFB-Pokal Final and the last seven matches of the Bundesliga season.[citation needed]
Kroos returned to fitness for the start of the 2013–14 season and, played in the German Super Cup[26] and the UEFA Super Cup.[27] On 4 October 2013, scored his first goal of the season in a 1–1 draw against former club Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga. He started two matches for Bayern in the 2013 FIFA Club World Cup,[28] the first against Guangzhou Evergrandein the 3–0 semi-final win on 17 December 2013,[29] and in the final as the team beat Raja Casablanca 2–0.[30][31] On 19 February 2014, Kroos scored his second goal of the season in a 2–0 Champions League win against Arsenal.[32]On 25 March, he scored in a 3–1 win over Hertha BSC as Bayern were confirmed as Bundesliga champions.[33]
Real Madrid
2014–15: Debut season
.jpg)
Prior to joining Real Madrid, Kroos had a deal in place to join Manchester United after agreeing terms with David Moyes. However, after Moyes was sacked and Louis van Gaal replaced him, the Dutch manager decided against signing Kroos. Around the time of the 2014 World Cup he received a call from Carlo Ancelotti.[34]
On 17 July 2014, Spanish La Liga club Real Madridannounced that they had reached an agreement for the transfer of Kroos, signing a six-year deal for an undisclosed fee.[35][36][37][14] The press reported that Kroos had cost between €24 and €30 million.[35][38][39][37][40][41] Greifswalder SV 04, the successor to his first youth team, received €60,000 from the transfer.[42]
Kroos became the ninth German player, after Günter Netzer, Paul Breitner, Uli Stielike, Bernd Schuster, Bodo Illgner, Christoph Metzelder, Mesut Özil, and Sami Khedira, to join Real Madrid.[43] At his presentation in front of 8,000 supporters, he stated how Real Madrid is the "biggest club in the world" and is a "cut above Bayern".[44][45] He played in his debut match against Sevilla in the 2014 UEFA Super Cup on 12 August 2014, winning his first trophy at Real Madrid.[46][47]
He was part of a midfield trio with James RodrÃguez and Luka Modrić that led Real Madrid to 22-game winning run late in the year. On 8 November, Kroos scored his first goal for Real Madrid in a 5–1 win over Rayo Vallecano, at home.[48] In December, he helped the team win the 2014 FIFA Club World Cup, leading the tournament in assists. He was named to the FIFA FIFPRO World 11 and the UEFA Team of the Year.[49]
2015–19: Sustained domestic success and European dominance
In 2015, Ancelotti was replaced by Rafa BenÃtez in Madrid's command. BenÃtez was replaced in the middle of the season by Zinedine Zidane, under whom Kroos continued to be a key midfield player. Zidane said "We signed Toni because we want him to mark an era" and called Kroos "perfect for Madrid".[50] He was a regular starter when the team won the 2015–16 Champions League, his second Champions League trophy.[51] Los Blancos' triumph at San Siro meant that Kroos became the first-ever German to lift the Champions League trophy with two clubs.[52]
In 2016, Kroos became a part of a collaboration between the German Football Association and The LEGO Group, who in May released a Europe-exclusive collectible minifigure series, with Kroos featured as the tenth of sixteen minifigures in the collection.[53] On 12 October 2016, he signed a new contract until 2022, and by the end of the year he was once again nominated to the FIFA FIFPRO World 11 and the UEFA Team of the Year.[54] He scored the winning goal for Real Madrid in the 81st minute of the game against Celta Vigo as Real Madrid won their first home game of the La Liga season by 2–1.[55] He was a regular starter when Madrid won the 2016–17 La Liga and later defended their title in the 2016–17 Champions League. He became the first German player to win the trophy three times.[56][57][58] At the end of 2016–17, Kroos was the most used player under Zidane.[59] During the 2017–18 Champions League, he made twelve appearances, when Madrid won their third consecutive and 13th overall Champions League title.[60]
2019–2021: Fifth FIFA Club World Cup title
_23.jpg)
