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 lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He is the assistant head coach of

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German professional association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. They currently play ...

's U19 squad and assistant manager of

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 ...

club

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 within the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. Geography Castrop-Rauxel is located in Germany between Dort ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, 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, 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 ...

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

Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; ) is a town 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 Frankfurt am Main, 666 kilometers (414 m ...

in 2004–05. On the final match day of that season, he scored his first goal against Hansa Rostock, making him the fourth youngest scorer ever in the history of the

. 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 29,042. They pl ...

, 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 i ...

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

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

. 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 Football in Germany, German association football club based in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has enjoyed its greatest success since the ...

for league rivals

Werder Bremen II SV Werder Bremen II is the reserve team of SV Werder Bremen. It plays in the Bremenliga, the fifth 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 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 ...

, 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 (; , ) is a Luxembourgish professional Association football, 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 Dudelange, ...

. 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 (), 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 ...

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

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

in Gold (Category U18)

References

External links

* * * 1987 births Living people Footballers from Castrop-Rauxel Men's association football midfielders German men's 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 men's footballers in Belgium German expatriate men's footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers 21st-century German sportsmen {{germany-footy-midfielder-1980s-stub