Kevin Großkreutz (born 19 July 1988) is a German former 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 ...

who plays as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

and winger for TuS Bövinghausen in the amateur-level

Oberliga Westfalen The Oberliga Westfalen is the highest level football league in the region of Westphalia, which is part of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The league existed from 1978 to 2008, but was then replaced by the NRW-Liga, a new statewide league. Wit ...

. He made his senior debut at

Rot Weiss Ahlen Rot Weiss Ahlen is a German football club based in Ahlen, North Rhine-Westphalia. Until 2006 the club was known as ''LR Ahlen'' for its major sponsor, but underwent a name change when the sponsor withdrew its support after the team was relegate ...

, and in 2009 joined

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 fo ...

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 ...

, making 233 appearances for them across all competitions and scoring 27 goals. His honours during his time at the

Westfalenstadion Westfalenstadion (, ) is a football stadium in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, which is the home of Borussia Dortmund. Officially called Signal Iduna Park for sponsorship reasons and BVB Stadion Dortmund in UEFA competitions, the n ...

included two consecutive Bundesliga titles, including a

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

in 2012. In summer 2015, after featuring sparingly at Borussia Dortmund, Großkreutz moved to

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

club

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

where he did not make a single appearance in half a season. He returned to the Bundesliga signing with

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 S ...

in January 2016. In March 2017 his contract was terminated after he was involved in a bar fight. A month later, he joined

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

side Darmstadt 98. After one season with Darmstadt 98, he spent two seasons with

KFC Uerdingen 05 KFC Uerdingen 05 is a German football club in the Uerdingen district of the city of Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. The former Bundesliga side enjoyed its greatest successes in the 1980s but now plays in the fifth-level Oberliga. History Th ...

in the

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for th ...

before announcing his retirement in January 2021. A full international for

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

between 2010 and 2014, he was part of their team which won the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

Early career

Großkreutz began his career with the Dortmund clubs DJK Rot-Weiß Obereving, VfL Kemminghausen and FC Merkur 07. In 2002, he joined

, where he played until he moved to

. Promoted to first team in 2006, he led the club to promotion to the 2. Bundesliga in 2008. He scored 12 goals and was named in the German sports magazine's ''

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

'' XI of the year. Großkreutz performed in the 2nd tier of the German league pyramid well too and went up to the German top-flight after the 2008-09 season.

Borussia Dortmund

He opened his account with Dortmund on 5 December 2009 in a 4–0 victory over 1. FC Nürnberg.

Sven Bender Sven Bender (; born 27 April 1989) is a German former professional footballer who played as a central defender and defensive midfielder. He was raised in Brannenburg and started his football career playing for TSV Brannenburg. Sven is the twin br ...

provided him with a diagonal pass that Großkreutz tucked past Alexander Stephan in goal to give Dortmund a 1–0 lead on eight minutes. Großkreutz opened his goalscoring account for the new season on 22 September 2010, finishing a nice play as Dortmund thrashed

1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V., also known as 1. FCK, FCK (), FC Kaiserslautern () or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to football, the club also operates in sev ...

5–0. In the following round of fixtures, Dortmund faced promoted side

FC St. Pauli Fußball-Club St Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St Pauli (), is a German professional football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. The football department is part of a larger sp ...

at the

Millerntor-Stadion Millerntor-Stadion () is a multi-purpose stadium in the St. Pauli area of Hamburg, Germany. Best known as the home ground of football club FC St. Pauli, it is on the Heiligengeistfeld near the Reeperbahn, the red light district of Hamburg. The s ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. Großkreutz scored two goals on either side of a

Shinji Kagawa Shinji Kagawa ( ja, 香川真司 ''Kagawa Shinji'' ; born 17 March 1989) is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Belgian First Division A club Sint-Truiden and the Japan national team. He is widely regarded as one o ...

strike as Dortmund won 3–1 with Großkreutz being named man of the match. On 29 November 2010, Großkreutz signed a four-year contract extension to stay with Dortmund until July 2014. He was involved in all three goals on 14 January 2011, scoring two and providing an assist for

Mario Götze Mario Götze (born 3 June 1992) is a German professional footballer who plays for Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt and the Germany national team. Although his favoured position is that of a playmaker, Götze has also played as a false ni ...

, as Dortmund defeated

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

3–1 at the

BayArena Bay Arena () is a football stadium in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, which has been the home ground of Bundesliga club Bayer 04 Leverkusen since 1958. History The stadium was originally known as ''Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion'' (; en ...

. Großkreutz had a phenomenal second season with Dortmund, netting eight goals and managing seven assists as ''die Borussen'' lifted the

title. Großkreutz figured in Borussia Dortmund's 4–2 victory over Bayern Munich on 27 July 2013, at BVB's

Signal Iduna Park Westfalenstadion (, ) is a football stadium in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, which is the home of Borussia Dortmund. Officially called Signal Iduna Park for sponsorship reasons and BVB Stadion Dortmund in UEFA competitions, the n ...

, Dortmund to lift the

2013 DFL-Supercup The 2013 DFL-Supercup was the fourth DFL-Supercup, an annual football match contested by the winners of the previous season's Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal competitions. It featured Bayern Munich, winners of the 2012–13 Bundesliga and the 2012– ...

. On 11 December 2013, Großkreutz scored the winning goal away to

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

in a 2–1

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

win to qualify Dortmund for the

knockout phase A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

. From April to August 2015, Großkreutz was demoted to Borussia Dortmund II, for whom he played 6 times in lower divisions. In September 2015 he was sold to Galatasaray. However, the deal was not completed before the closure of the transfer window.

Galatasaray

On 2 September 2015, it was announced by FIFA that

had failed to submit the relevant documentation for Großkreutz before the transfer window closed. As a result FIFA refused to sanction Großkreutz's proposed move from

to Galatasaray, and the player was ineligible to play any matches until 1 January 2016. Großkreutz signed a three-year contract worth an average of about €1.6 million per season, plus €20,000 per match bonus. Dortmund received a €1.5 million transfer fee and an extra €250,000 if Galatasaray qualified for the

VfB Stuttgart

On 6 January 2016, having not made a single competitive appearance for Galatasaray, Großkreutz returned to Germany to join

for about €2.2 million. On 3 March 2017, the contract of Großkreutz was mutually terminated hours after he got into a bar fight. Großkreutz said in a statement on the club website that he "made a mistake" and he wants "nothing to do with football for the time being."

Darmstadt 98

In April 2017, one month after his departure from VfB Stuttgart, Großkreutz signed with

club SV Darmstadt 98 for the 2017–18 season until 2019. He gave his pre-season debut in a warm-up fixture against SG Modau on 23 June 2017.

KFC Uerdingen

On 5 July 2018, Großkreutz joined

. His contract was terminated by the club in October 2020. On 24 January 2021, Großkreutz announced his retirement from professional football.

TuS Bövinghausen

On 26 January 2021, Großkreutz joined TuS Bövinghausen in the sixth-tier

Westfalenliga The Westfalenliga (''formerly the '') is the second highest amateur football league in the region of Westphalia which is part of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the sixth tier of the German football league system. It operates in two groups ...

. At the end of the 2021–22 season, the club was promoted to the fifth-tier

. On 27 August 2022, Großkreutz extended his contract with the club until 2025.

International career

Großkreutz made his full international debut in a friendly match against

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

on 13 May 2010, helping set up striker

Cacau Claudemir Jerônimo Barreto (born 27 March 1981), known as Cacau (, ), is a former professional footballer who played as a striker. Born in Brazil, he represented Germany at international level. Cacau received German citizenship in February 20 ...

for one of his two goals in a 3–0 win. He next appeared for Germany as a starter against Sweden in a 0–0 draw on 18 November 2010. In June 2014, he was named in Germany's squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Germany went on to win the tournament, though Großkreutz did not make any appearance during the competition. His sixth and last cap came later in this summer in an international friendly against World Cup final opponent

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Personal life

Großkreutz is a lifelong Borussia Dortmund supporter, growing up and living in the Dortmund area until his move away from the club.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Kevin Großkreutz 2014 FIFA World Cup (cropped)

Borussia Dortmund *

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

, 2011–12 *

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 considered ...

: 2011–12 * DFL-Supercup:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

runner-up:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Germany *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grosskreutz, Kevin 1988 births Living people Footballers from Dortmund German footballers Association football midfielders Rot Weiss Ahlen players Borussia Dortmund players Galatasaray S.K. footballers VfB Stuttgart players SV Darmstadt 98 players KFC Uerdingen 05 players Oberliga (football) players Regionalliga players 2. Bundesliga players Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Germany under-21 international footballers Germany international footballers 2014 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup-winning players German expatriate footballers German expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Turkey Outfield association footballers who played in goal