Tony Kroos, Real Madrid’s German international midfielder, said on Tuesday that he will retire from playing football following Euro 2024.
“My career as an active footballer will end this summer after the Euro championship,” Kroos, 34, who won the 2014 World Cup with Germany, wrote on Instagram.
Before the European Championship, Kroos has the opportunity to win the Champions League with Real for the sixth time when they meet Borussia Dortmund at Wembley Stadium on June 1.
He previously won the Champions League with Bayern Munich before joining the Spanish powerhouse.
Kroos joined Real in 2014 and instantly established a powerful midfield tandem with Luka Modric.
In a statement on their website, Real Madrid stated that Kroos “will go down in Real Madrid history as one of our club and international football’s greatest legends”.
Kroos has won the Liga title four times.
He was planned to retire from international football in July 2021, but changed his mind in February after meetings with Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann, who convinced him to continue until the Euro 2024 on home soil.
“My ambition was always to finish my career at the peak of my performance level,” Kroos said on Instagram.
“I am happy and proud that in my mind I found the right timing for my decision and that I could choose it on my own.”
Kroos was one of the key players when Germany won the World Cup in Brazil in 2014 and scored twice when they inflicted a 7-1 defeat on the host nation in the semi-finals.
But four years later he was unable to prevent Germany from crashing out in the group stage in Russia.