Toni Kroos (born 4 January 1990) is a German professional footballer who plays for La Liga club Real Madrid and the Germany national team. Kroos plays mainly as a central midfielder, but is also used as a defensive midfielder or deep-lying playmaker. He is known for his vision, creativity, passing, and set-piece ability, and is widely considered to be one of the best midfielders in the world.
Kroos began his senior club career playing for Bayern Munich, where he made his debut at age 17 in 2007. He was sparingly used, and quickly opted for an 18-month loan spell at fellow Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen, where he became a key contributor, and returned to his parent club with an increased profile in 2010. Kroos then became indispensable for the Bavarian club, and was critical to several successes, including two consecutive league titles, a UEFA Champions League title, and two DFB-Pokal titles. He was also voted into the league team of the season three times, before moving to Spain to join La Liga side Real Madrid in 2014, for a fee of €25 million.
In Madrid, Kroos won nine trophies, including two La Liga titles and three UEFA Champions League titles, which he won consecutively from 2016 and 2018, each time being selected in the competition's team of the season. He has been selected in the FIFPro World11 and UEFA Team of the Year three times, and the league's team of the season twice. He was voted the IFFHS World's Best Playmaker in 2014 and German Footballer of the Year in 2018.
Kroos won Golden Player at the 2006 UEFA European Under-17 Championship, where he also finished as top goalscorer, and won the Golden Ball at the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup. He made his senior debut for Germany in 2010, at age 20, and appeared in five major tournaments. Kroos helped Germany win the 2014 FIFA World Cup, where he was top assist provider and voted to the All-Star Team, Dream Team, and German Player of the Year. At UEFA Euro 2016, he was selected to the Team of the Tournament. On 19 May 2021, he was selected to the squad for the UEFA Euro 2020. |
