Former national soccer player Max Kruse has announced the end of his career. Around four weeks after terminating his contract with second division club SC Paderborn, the 35-year-old announced in a live video on Instagram on Wednesday evening that he was retiring from sports with immediate effect.
The attacker’s move was not unexpected. In Paderborn, the 14-time national player performed well below expectations after his much-noticed move to League Two in the summer and only played 194 minutes due to injury. His previous engagement with VfL Wolfsburg ended prematurely in November 2022 with the termination of his contract, after which he was without a club for more than half a year.
In the Bundesliga, Kruse played 307 games and scored 97 goals for Bremen, St. Pauli, Freiburg, Mönchengladbach, Wolfsburg and Union Berlin. There was also a one-year commitment to Fenerbahce Istanbul (2019/20).
Kruse played in the national team from 2013 to 2015 under national coach Joachim Löw before he dispensed with the extroverted striker. As Kruse later admitted, Löw was annoyed that the professional made his private life too public.