Toni Kroos has been playing for Real Madrid since the summer of 2014. Image: AP / Alvaro Barrientos
Champions League
Toni Kroos has repeatedly emphasized that he definitely wants to end his career at Real Madrid. For example, in November before the Champions League game against Celtic Glasgow, the 33-year-old said: “I will always stay here, I will retire here. I just don’t know when.”
That’s why there’s always speculation about when it will be. His contract runs until the end of the season. So far it is not known whether he will continue to play for Real Madrid or whether he will end his career as an active footballer.
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Carlo Ancelotti, his coach at Real Madrid, said in early January that he believed Kroos would know how things were going for him next month. “As a football fan, it’s impossible to think of Kroos retiring. He said he wants to retire at Real Madrid and I hope he stays.”
Now an announcement by brother Felix Kroos in the joint podcast “Einfach mal Luppen” has caused confusion. At the end of the current episode, he announced that he would publish a message “that we will simply leave uncommented”. It’s the last words of the episode before the outro comes and fans are probably at a loss at first: “Kroos will end in the summer.”
So what’s behind it? Did brother Felix announce the end of Toni’s career? Probably not. Since both brothers are known for one or the other joke, it is more likely that Felix has picked up a different message. Father Roland Kroos will probably end his job as coach of Greifswalder FC in the summer.
“Kroos is retiring in the summer”
The announcement of Felix Kroos in the joint podcast with Toni.
About a week before the podcast episode was released, the NDR published a report with the same headline: “Kroos breaks up in summer”. It can therefore be assumed that the next episode in the coming week will talk about the end of the father’s coaching activities.
Another topic that is dealt with in the current episode is the sporting crisis in the national team and the appointment of Rudi Völler as sporting director of the DFB team. He is to accompany the team on the way to the home European Championship in 2024.
Rudi Völler will be sports director of the national team from February.Image: dpa / Marius Becker
After the announcement that Völler was taking over the job, there was repeated discussion as to whether Völler was the right person for a new start.
In the current episode of “Einfach mal Luppen”, the podcast by Toni Kroos and his brother Felix, the two talk about Völler’s appointment. Felix does not want to commit himself in the final assessment as to whether the national team will be successful again with Völler as sporting director: “It can be both positive and negative.”
“If you get such a request, you will certainly start thinking.”
Felix Kroos on Rudi Völler’s comeback in the football business.
On the one hand, Völler is popular and has done a good job in Leverkusen for years. From 1996 to 2000 and from 2005 to 2018 he was sports director at Bayer Leverkusen, before he was even managing director of sports from 2018 to 2022. At the same time, Felix points out that Völler left the job at Leverkusen because “he wants to focus more on things outside of football.”
He adds: “Of course it’s difficult to take on a job like that. But when you get a request like that, you certainly start thinking. It’s not everyday for him to get a job like that.”
Toni Kroos, on the other hand, believes that Völler speaks the language of the fans and therefore does not come across as distant to the supporters as was sometimes the case with Bierhoff. Kroos explains more precisely: “It’s a different language, maybe not quite as modern, but maybe it’s a little further away from the fan. He is technically good and has a very clear opinion and makes it clear and, if necessary, also emotionally, without wanting to attack anyone, but it’s in the matter.”
Völler with a big advantage over Bierhoff
Völler’s big plus is that he doesn’t plan the things he wants to say: “But he says how he thinks it and then it’s received that way. I think that’s a really good cast.”
However, Toni also noticed a big difference between Völler and Bierhoff in terms of the area of responsibility. While Bierhoff was also responsible for the youth as director of the national teams and the academy, Völler will only take care of the senior national team. Toni explains: “That’s also the reason why he does it. He wouldn’t have done it any other way.”
Therefore, Völler will only be able to help to a limited extent with regard to the future of German football. “The other is the long-term problems that are there, with certain positions that have not been world-class for years. Rudi Völler will not solve this problem, but that’s not his job either.”
It came like a bang when FC Bayern announced the separation from goalkeeping coach Toni Tapalović late on Monday evening. The coach, whom Manuel Neuer brought to Munich from Schalke in 2011 and who encouraged the 36-year-old to do his best, suddenly has to go.
