Fabio Grosso has been a red flag for German football fans since the 2006 World Cup. The “Grosso” from Werder Bremen, however, is not. But he will soon no longer be seen on the pitch either.
The late starter is calling it a day: Christian Groß from Bundesliga club Werder Bremen will end his active football career in the summer. The 35-year-old midfielder played 75 Bundesliga games and 27 games in the 2nd league for the Green-Whites, to whom he moved in 2018. Now Groß, whose contract on the Weser is expiring, is drawing a line.
“Now is the right time”
“The decision was extremely difficult for me. I’ve played football all my life – my family doesn’t know me any differently. But it’s not a decision that you make overnight, but an idea that matures. For me, this is in “I agreed with my wife and family over the Christmas period that now is the right time for me to hang up my shoes,” said Groß.
Groß is “probably the best example of the fact that the paths in football are not always straight,” said Clemens Fritz, Werder’s head of professional football, and praised Groß with warm words: “From a supplementary player in the training camp to a seasoned Bundesliga player who is in has played a very important role in our team on and off the pitch in recent years and will also leave a big gap in the dressing room in the summer.” With Groß, “you can see that development doesn’t stop even when you’re a senior footballer. He deserves the greatest respect.”
Groß has a connection contract with Werder. “We will discuss in peace when and in what form he will continue with us,” said Fritz. Before his time with the Bremen professionals, Groß played 182 games in the 3rd league and 134 games in the North and West regional leagues for the U23s of Werder and HSV, Sportfreunde Lotte, SV Babelsberg and VfL Osnabrück.