Germany and Real Madrid Great Toni Kroos to Retire After Euro 2024 

Football - Champions League - Real Madrid Press Conference - Ciudad Real Madrid, Valdebebas, Madrid, Spain - May 8, 2023 Real Madrid's Toni Kroos during the press conference. (Reuters)
Football - Champions League - Real Madrid Press Conference - Ciudad Real Madrid, Valdebebas, Madrid, Spain - May 8, 2023 Real Madrid's Toni Kroos during the press conference. (Reuters)
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Germany and Real Madrid Great Toni Kroos to Retire After Euro 2024 

Football - Champions League - Real Madrid Press Conference - Ciudad Real Madrid, Valdebebas, Madrid, Spain - May 8, 2023 Real Madrid's Toni Kroos during the press conference. (Reuters)
Football - Champions League - Real Madrid Press Conference - Ciudad Real Madrid, Valdebebas, Madrid, Spain - May 8, 2023 Real Madrid's Toni Kroos during the press conference. (Reuters)

Toni Kroos will retire from football after trying to give Real Madrid yet another Champions League trophy and lead Germany to the European Championship title at home.

The 34-year-old German midfielder said Tuesday it was a tough decision, but that the timing felt “somehow perfect."

“I always wanted to leave at the peak of my abilities and I know, and from a lot of examples you see, that it isn’t easy, that you can miss that point in time very quickly,” Kroos said on a podcast he hosts with his brother.

“I never wanted to have the feeling at the end that the club, the fans, the people around me would have to tell me, ‘That’s enough,’ or that I’d spend another two or three years sitting on the bench.”

Madrid thanked Kroos and hailed his achievements with the team.

“Real Madrid would like to express its gratitude and affection to Toni Kroos, a player who will go down in Real Madrid history as one of our club and international football’s greatest legends,” the club said.

Kroos was a World Cup champion with Germany in 2014 in Brazil, and had a successful career with Bayern Munich as well, helping it win one Champions League and three German league titles.

Madrid will face Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final on June 1 in London. His European trophies with Madrid came in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2022. He won the Champions League with Bayern in 2013.

Kroos has been with Madrid since 2014, helping it win 22 titles, including four European Cups and four Spanish leagues. He made 463 appearances with the club, which called the midfielder “a key player in one of the most successful periods of Real Madrid’s 122-year history.”

“Toni Kroos is one of the great players in Real Madrid history and this club will always be his home,” club president Florentino Pérez said.

Madrid said Kroos will remain forever in the hearts of every fan “thanks to his mastery of the game and the fact he has given his all for our jersey, a steadfast example of the values of Real Madrid.”

Kroos' contract with Madrid was expiring at the end of this season and the club and the player had reportedly been negotiating an extension.

Kroos said in February he agreed to play for Germany at Euro 2024 after a request from coach Julian Nagelsmann. He has not played for the national team in almost three years, since Germany’s loss to England in the second round of the last European Championship.

Kroos was named last week in Germany's preliminary squad for the tournament.

He had said a few months ago that he didn't know what would happen next season.

“I thought it over for a really long time and in the last few days I’ve reached the conclusion that this season, this wonderful season, the 10th season with Real, is also my last season with Real,” Kroos said Tuesday.

“And anyone who has paid attention when listening to me over the last few months or years will have heard the sentence at one time or other that the only option for me was to end my career at Real Madrid. And if you can put one and one together, you know that my last season with Real means it's over this summer. No more Real, no more football.”



Verstappen Snatches 'Insane' Pole for Japan GP in Track Record

Formula One F1 - Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Japan - April 5, 2025 Red Bull's Max Verstappen celebrates after qualifying in pole position REUTERS/Manami Yamada
Formula One F1 - Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Japan - April 5, 2025 Red Bull's Max Verstappen celebrates after qualifying in pole position REUTERS/Manami Yamada
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Verstappen Snatches 'Insane' Pole for Japan GP in Track Record

Formula One F1 - Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Japan - April 5, 2025 Red Bull's Max Verstappen celebrates after qualifying in pole position REUTERS/Manami Yamada
Formula One F1 - Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Japan - April 5, 2025 Red Bull's Max Verstappen celebrates after qualifying in pole position REUTERS/Manami Yamada

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen smashed the track record to snatch pole position for Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris, as Yuki Tsunoda qualified a lowly 15th in his Red Bull debut.

Verstappen clocked a blistering lap of 1min 26.983sec in his Red Bull, 0.012sec ahead of championship leader Norris, with McLaren's Oscar Piastri third.

Verstappen set a new Suzuka track record with his final lap in Saturday's qualifying, pipping Norris right at the death.

"Each session we kept making little improvements, then the last lap was flat out," said Verstappen, who has won the Japanese GP for the last three years.

"In a Formula One car around here is insane. This is a proper highlight for us to be back on pole here."

It was Verstappen's first pole position of the season, AFP reported.

The Dutchman is still looking for his first grand prix win of the new campaign.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was fourth ahead of Mercedes' George Russell, with Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli sixth and RB's Isack Hadjar seventh.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton was eighth, followed by Williams's Alex Albon and Haas's Oliver Bearman.

Norris is looking for his second grand prix win of the season, after triumphing in the season opener in Australia.

He finished second behind Piastri in China a fortnight ago in a dominant start to the campaign for McLaren.

"I'm happy, congrats to Max, he did a good job," said Norris.

"You have to credit something when it is a lap that good that he must have done. I got everything out of the car today, the gaps are tiny.

"Good but not enough."

Tsunoda was eliminated in Q2 in a disappointing first qualifying drive for Red Bull after being promoted in place of Liam Lawson last week.

The Japanese driver finished one place behind Lawson, who returned to RB after just two races for Red Bull in a ruthless driver swap.