Marc-André Kruska (born 29 June 1987) is a German professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He works as assistant manager of

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as simply VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has spent 35 seas ...

's U19 squad.

Career

Born in

Castrop-Rauxel Castrop-Rauxel (), often simply referred to as Castrop by locals, is a former coal mining city in the eastern part of the Ruhr Area in Germany. Geography Castrop-Rauxel is located in Germany between Dortmund to the southeast, Bochum to the sout ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

, Kruska started his career at SC Arminia Ickern and soon signed for VfR Rauxel 08, the team from his native village. In 1999, age 12, he was spotted by

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

and at the Westfalen Stadium he enjoyed his further training. Just 17, he made his debut in the first team against

Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; Palatinate German: ''Lautre'') is a city in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfur ...

in 2004–05. On the final match day of that season, he scored his first goal against

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 ...

, making him the fourth youngest scorer ever in the history of the

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 ...

. As the best U18 player, he was also awarded the "Fritz Walter Medal". The three following seasons confirmed his place in the starting line-up as defensive midfielder, bringing his total number of Bundesliga games to 98. After a half year and fifteen games in the Jupiler League for

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

, he returned to Germany signing a three-year contract with

FC Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus (Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the reunification of Germany, Energie played six seasons in ...

on 28 July 2009. On 3 January 2014, he joined

FSV Frankfurt Fußballsportverein Frankfurt 1899 e.V., commonly known as simply FSV Frankfurt, is a German association football club based in the Bornheim district of Frankfurt am Main, Hesse and founded in 1899. FSV Frankfurt also fielded a rather successfu ...

. In January 2018, Kruska left

SC Paderborn 07 Sport-Club Paderborn 07 e.V., commonly known as simply SC Paderborn 07 () or SC Paderborn, is a German association football club based in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has enjoyed its greatest successes since the turn of the mille ...

for league rivals

Werder Bremen II SV Werder Bremen II is the reserve team of SV Werder Bremen. It plays in Regionalliga, the fourth level of the German football league system, and has qualified for the first round of the DFB-Pokal on nineteen occasions. It also has won the Germ ...

. In May, following Werder Bremen II's relegation from the 3. Liga, it was announced Kruska would be one of ten players to leave the club. In June 2018, Kruska joined reigning Luxembourg champions

F91 Dudelange F91 Dudelange (; lb, F91 Diddeleng, italic=no, ) is a Luxembourger professional football club based in Dudelange which plays in the Luxembourg National Division. It was formed in 1991 as a merger between three teams in the town: Alliance Dudel ...

. He retired after the 2018–19 season.

Later career

Following his retirement as a player, Kruska became assistant coach of a

's U19 squad. Beside that, he joined FC Frohlinde as a player.Marc Kruska im Frohlinder Trikot
lokalkompass.de, 20 July 2019

Honours

Borussia Dortmund *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

runner-up: 2007–08 Individual * Fritz-Walter-Medal

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

in Gold (Category U18)

References

External links

* * * 1987 births Living people People from Castrop-Rauxel Sportspeople from Münster (region) Association football midfielders German footballers Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Belgian Pro League players Borussia Dortmund players Borussia Dortmund II players Club Brugge KV players FC Energie Cottbus players FSV Frankfurt players SC Paderborn 07 players SV Werder Bremen II players F91 Dudelange players Expatriate footballers in Belgium German expatriate footballers Germany under-21 international footballers Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia {{germany-footy-midfielder-1980s-stub