Germany’s World Cup-winning midfielder, Toni Kroos has on Friday announced retirement from international football.
In a statement, Kroos said that he had already planned to retire after Euro 2020, and he knew he will not feature in 2022 World Cup.
The Real Madrid midfielder wrote;
I have played 106 times for Germany. There will not be another time.
Germany were knocked out of Euro 2020 after losing their Round of 16 match 2-0 to England on Tuesday.
He added;
I had already made the decision to retire after this tournament for some time. It had been clear to me for a while that I will not be available for the World Cup 2022 in Qatar.
Kroos further wrote that his priority going forwards will be to spend time with his family, stressing;
Mainly because I want to focus fully on my goals with Real Madrid for the next few years. In addition, from now on I will deliberately allow myself breaks that have not existed as a national player for eleven years. It was a great honour for me to be able to wear this jersey for such a long time. I did it with pride and passion.
— Toni Kroos (@ToniKroos) July 2, 2021
Kroos was part of the Germany national team that had defeated Argentina 1-0 to claim 2014 FIFA World Cup trophy.
