Kevin Großkreutz (born 19 July 1988) is a semi-retired 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 lea ...

who plays as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

and winger for Westfalenliga 2 club Wacker Castrop. He made his senior debut at

Rot Weiss Ahlen Rot Weiss Ahlen is a football in Germany, 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 th ...

, and in 2009 joined

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

of the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

, 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 stadium of Borussia Dortmund. Officially called Signal Iduna Park for sponsorship reasons and BVB Stadion Dortmund in UEFA competitions, ...

included two consecutive Bundesliga titles, including a

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

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

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

club

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

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 professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

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 side

Darmstadt 98 Sportverein Darmstadt 1898 e.V., commonly known as Darmstadt 98 (), is a German professional association football club based in Darmstadt, Hesse. The club was founded on 22 May 1898 as FC Olympia Darmstadt. Early in 1919, the association was bri ...

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

KFC Uerdingen 05 KFC Uerdingen 05 was a German football club in the Uerdingen district of the city of Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. The former Bundesliga side, which had its greatest successes in the 1980s, plays in the fourth-level Regionalliga. In 2025, 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 t ...

before joining TüS Bövninghausen in January 2021 A full international for

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

between 2010 and 2014, he was part of their team which won the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

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'' (magazine), sports magazine in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the wor ...

'' 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 centre-back or defensive midfielder. He is currently the interim manager of 3. Liga club SpVgg Unterhaching. He was raised in Brannenburg and started hi ...

provided him with a diagonal pass that Großkreutz tucked past

Alexander Stephan Alexander Stephan (August 16, 1946 – May 29, 2009) was a specialist in German literature and area studies. He was a professor, Ohio Eminent Scholar, and Senior Fellow of the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at Ohio State Uni ...

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 (), K'lautern or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to Association football, football ...

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 association football, football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg. The team plays in the Bundesliga from the 2024–25 Bundesli ...

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 Association football, football club FC St. Pauli, it is on the Heiligengeistfeld near the Reeperbahn, the red light dist ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. Großkreutz scored two goals on either side of a

Shinji Kagawa Shinji Kagawa (, ''Kagawa Shinji'' ; born 17 March 1989) is a Japanese professional footballer and football manager who plays as a midfielder. He is widely regarded as one of the best Japanese players of all time. Kagawa became the first midfie ...

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 Association football, footballer who plays for club Eintracht Frankfurt. Although his favoured position is that of an attacking or central midfielder, he has also played as a Winger (f ...

, as Dortmund defeated

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

3–1 at the

BayArena BayArena () is a Association football, 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-Haber ...

. 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 stadium of Borussia Dortmund. Officially called Signal Iduna Park for sponsorship reasons and BVB Stadion Dortmund in UEFA competitions, ...

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

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 FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich, winners of the 2012–13 Bundesliga ...

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

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

in a 2–1

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

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 a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

. From April to August 2015, Großkreutz was demoted to

Borussia Dortmund II Borussia Dortmund II are the reserve team of Borussia Dortmund, currently playing in the 3. Liga, at Stadion Rote Erde. Until 2005, the team played as Borussia Dortmund Amateure. The team won the Regionalliga West in 2009 and became the second ...

, 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 2. Bundesliga club

SV Darmstadt 98 Sportverein Darmstadt 1898 e.V., commonly known as Darmstadt 98 (), is a German professional association football club based in Darmstadt, Hesse. The club was founded on 22 May 1898 as FC Olympia Darmstadt. Early in 1919, the association was bri ...

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 group ...

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

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. W ...

. 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, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

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 ...

for one of his two goals in a 3–0 win. He next appeared for Germany as a starter against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in a 0–0 draw on 18 November 2010. In June 2014, he was named in Germany's squad for the

. 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, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

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

Borussia Dortmund *

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2011–12 *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

: 2011–12 *

DFL-Supercup The Franz Beckenbauer Supercup or ''German Super Cup'' is a one-off association football, football match in Germany that features the winners of the Bundesliga championship and the DFB-Pokal. The competition is run by the Deutsche Fußball Liga (E ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

runner-up:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Germany *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grosskreutz, Kevin 1988 births Living people Footballers from Dortmund German men's footballers Men's 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 men's under-21 international footballers Germany men's international footballers 2014 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup–winning players German expatriate men's footballers German expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey 21st-century German sportsmen