Axel Kruse (born 28 September 1967) is a German former

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

and

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player. Kruse was born in

Wolgast Wolgast (; csb, Wòłogòszcz) is a town in the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the bank of the river (or strait) Peenestrom, vis-a-vis the island of Usedom on the Baltic coast that can be ...

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

and played for several

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

football clubs.

Football career

As player of

Hansa Rostock FC Hansa Rostock () is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from the forme ...

, following an away game in Copenhagen on 8 July 1989, Kruse fled to West Germany with the help of friends. He joined

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend of the borough of Charl ...

. During the winter break of the

1990–91 Bundesliga The 1990–91 Bundesliga was the 28th season of the Bundesliga, the premier football league in West Germany. It began on 8 August 1990 and ended on 15 June 1991. FC Bayern Munich were the defending champions. With the Reunification of Germany on ...

season Kruse transferred to

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

. For the

1993–94 Bundesliga The 1993–94 Bundesliga was the 31st season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. It began on 6 August 1993 and ended on 7 May 1994. SV Werder Bremen were the defending champions. Teams VfL Bochum, Bayer 05 Uerdingen and 1. F ...

he transferred to

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB Stu ...

. In Stuttgart he experienced a bad first year. He just ten appearances, eight of which as substitute and received a ban for assaulting referee Hans-Joachim Osmers in a DFB Cup game. Kruse joined

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...

during the second half of their 1993–94 season under head coach

Claude Andrey Claude "Didi" Andrey (born 13 June 1951) is a former Swiss footballer, who most recently managed Yverdon-Sport FC in the Challenge League. Andrey took over FC Basel for their 1993–94 season. His team included the likes of Swiss internatio ...

. Kruse played his debut for his new club in the home game in the

St. Jakob Stadium The St. Jakob Stadium was a football stadium in Basel, Switzerland and the former home of Swiss club FC Basel. It was built in view of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, and as well as serving as a club stadium, it hosted several important matches, inc ...

on 4 April as Basel played in the Swiss Cup semi-final against Schaffhausen. The game ended goalless after extra-time. Kruse converted his spot-kick, but despite this Basel were defeated 5–6 after penalties. Kruse played his domestic league debut for them one week later on 9 April in the home game as Basel drew 1–1 against Yverdon-Sports. He scored his first goal for the team another week later, on 16 April, in the home game as Basel won 3–1 against Xamax. It was the first goal of the match and Kruse converted a penalty. Kruse's last game with Basel was the away match against Schaffhausen on 23 April, in which he also scored a goal, as the visitors were 4–1 winners. After this he injured himself and missed the remainder of the season. Following his loan period, Kruse returned to

for two further seasons and he ended his active career after two further seasons with

. After retiring from football, he played

as a

placekicker Placekicker, or simply kicker (PK or K), is the player in gridiron football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals and extra points. In many cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist or punter. Spe ...

for

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

's team

Berlin Thunder The Berlin Thunder were a professional American football team in NFL Europe. History The Thunder came into existence as an expansion team, after the London/England Monarchs franchise shut down operations, prior to the 1999 season. Home games f ...

from 1999 to 2003. during his stint, he won the

World Bowl The World Bowl was the annual American football championship game of the World League of American Football/NFL Europe. The World Bowl was played each year from 1991 to 2007 (except 1993 and 1994). The game was conceived as the final of the NFL-r ...

in 2001 and 2002. He later worked as a

pundit A pundit is a person who offers mass media opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport). Origins The term originates from the Sanskrit term ('' '' ), meaning "knowledg ...

for German TV channel Sport1.

References

Sources

* Die ersten 125 Jahre. Publisher: Josef Zindel im Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel.
Axel Kruse at Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" site ''Olympic Stadium: The Unity Derby''.
In
Sites of Unity
(

Haus der Geschichte Haus der Geschichte (officially ''Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland'', i.e. "House of the History of the Federal Republic of Germany") is a museum of contemporary history in Bonn, Germany. With around one million visitors ever ...

), 2022. 1967 births Living people People from Wolgast German men's footballers East German men's footballers East Germany men's under-21 international footballers East German defecting sportspeople German players of American football American football placekickers Berlin Thunder players Eintracht Frankfurt players FC Basel players FC Hansa Rostock players Men's association football forwards Hertha BSC players VfB Stuttgart players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Footballers who switched code DDR-Oberliga players Footballers from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania People from Bezirk Rostock East German emigrants to West Germany {{germany-footy-forward-1960s-stub