Max Kruse

Early career

Kruse began his career with hometown club TSV Reinbek before he joined Hamburg-based SV Vier- und Marschlande in summer 1998. After more than seven years there, he was scouted by Werder Bremen in January 2006. On 4 May 2009, he signed a two-year contract with FC St. Pauli. During the 2011–12 2. Bundesliga, Kruse scored 13 goals and provided six assists as FC St. Pauli finished on 62 points in fourth place, missing out on the promotion playoffs on goal difference.

SC Freiburg

Following his successful spell with St. Pauli, Kruse was transferred to Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in the summer of 2012. He made his competitive debut for his new club on 18 August 2012 in a DFB-Pokal match against Victoria Hamburg, which ended in a 2–1 victory as Kruse scored the opening goal and provided the assist for Sebastian Freis's winner. Kruse made his home league debut on 25 August, scoring a goal in Freiburg's 1–1 draw with 1. FSV Mainz 05. He helped Freiburg claim their first win of the Bundesliga season in their third game on 16 September, netting a goal and providing two assists in an enthralling 5–3 defeat of TSG Hoffenheim. Kruse helped seal an upset win over Schalke on 15 December, providing assists for first half goals to both Jan Rosenthal and Jonathan Schmid in a 3–1 away victory at the Arena AufSchalke. On 16 February, he opened the scoring nine minutes before half time as Freiburg recorded their first win over Kruse's former club Werder Bremen in 11…

Early international career

Kruse was a member of the Germany U-19 that competed at the 2007 UEFA U-19 Championship and also featured for the under-21 team. Kruse received his first call-up to the Germany national team for a friendly match against Ecuador on 29 May 2013 in Boca Raton, Florida. He also debuted on said occasion with an assist for Lukas Podolski's second goal before being replaced by Dennis Aogo in the 79th minute; it ended in a 4–2 victory for the Germans. Kruse scored his first goal for the national team in his second cap, scoring Germany's second goal in a 4–3 defeat to the United States in Washington, D.C., on 2 June, a game which celebrated 100 years of the United States Soccer Federation. Despite Kruse's successful league campaign with Gladbach, he was omitted from the 30-man preliminary squad for the World Cup in Brazil. On 13 June 2015, Kruse scored twice in a 7–0 victory in a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match against Gibraltar. In March 2016, Joachim Löw said that he would not consider Kruse for the national team anymore after the latter made negative headlines. Kruse earned 14 caps and four goals in total. During this time, he was a part of a collaboration between the German Football Association and The LEGO Group – which released a Europe-exclusive collectible minifigure series in 2016 – with Kruse featured as the sixteenth and final minifigure in the collection.

2020 Summer Olympics

Having not represented Germany since 2015, Kruse…

Club

International

Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kruse goal.

In February 2021, Kruse was one of more than 800 professional footballers, across both the men's and women's game, who signed a petition in German football magazine 11 Freunde to support gay players. He has a son with his first partner Alina. In July 2021, he proposed to his wife Dilara Mardine of Kurdish origin on live TV after a 3–2 win against Saudi Arabia during the 2020 Summer Olympics. The couple married in December later that year.