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Real Madrid’s German international Toni Kroos announced on Tuesday that he will retire from all football after Euro 2024. He went to Instagram and said “My career as an active footballer will end this summer after the Euro championship.” Before the Euro 2024 championship, 34 year old Toni Kroos has the chance to win the Champions League with Real Madrid for the fifth time when they face Borussia Dortmund at Wembley on June 1st.
He also won the Champion’s League with Bayern Munich before joining the Spanish side. He joined Los Meringues in 2014 and formed a deadly midfield collaboration with Luka Modric. In a statement at their website, Real Madrid stated, “Kroos will go down in Real Madrid history as one of our club and international football’s greatest legends.” Toni Kroos has also won the La Liga title four times and the Bundesliga three times with Bayern.
Previously, the footballer had announced that he was quitting international football in July 2021 but reversed his decision in February after talks with Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann, who persuaded him to play till the Euro 2024 on home soil. Kroos has racked up 108 caps and 17 goals for Germany.
He was one of the key players when they won the World Cup in Brazil in 2014 and managed to bag a brace when they inflicted a 7-1 thrashing to the host nation in the semi-finals. However, four years later he was unable to stop Germany from crashing out in the group stage in Russia.
He did not play in Germany’s second World Cup group-stage exit in a row in Qatar 2022 but after making his international return at Nagelsmann’s request will lead to a new-look Germany side at Euro 2024. ”My ambition was always to finish my career at the peak of my performance level. I am happy and proud that in my mind I found the right timing for my decision and that I could choose it on my own,” said Toni Kroos on Instagram.
