Bundesliga
What are the 2014 German World Champions doing? Legends, unfulfilled talents and untimely ends
In 2014, Germany became World Champions. This is the last great success of our western neighbours. What are the members of the championship team doing now?
In 2014, Germany’s footballers became world champions. This is the last great success of our western neighbours. What are the members of the championship team doing now?
Manuel Neuer
He is still defending Bayern’s goal although he is currently recovering from a broken leg he suffered while skiing. He is still the number one player in the national team.
Ron-Robert Zieler
He tried out at Leicester, went through Stuttgart and Cologne and is currently at Hannover. He has only 6 starts in the national team and the last one was in 2015.
Roman Weidenfeller
The former Dortmund goalkeeper retired in 2018 and is currently representing his long-time club. He has played one less game for Germany than Zieler.
Jerome Boateng
After many years, he left Bayern for Olympique Lyon in 2021 as unnecessary. He has been without a contract since this summer. There was speculation about him returning to Bayern, but in the end it was dropped.
Mats Hummels
A footballer who has only played for two clubs in his professional career, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. New national team coach Nagelsmann called him up to the national team again after a long break.
Per Mertesacker
The tall German defence chief was loyal to Arsenal until the end of his career in 2018. He is currently there as head of the youth academy.
Benedikt Höwedes
The Schalke alumnus tried his hand at Juventus and finished his career as a Lokomotiv Moscow player in 2020 at the age of 32. He used to be a team manager with the national team and is also a TV pundit.
Matthias Ginter
One of the few players of the championship team who still plays for the national team. His engagement at Dortmund didn’t work out, after a few years at Mönchengladbach he returned to his home town Freiburg.
Shkodran Mustafi
He has been without a contract since this summer. Before that he played for Levante, Schalke, Arsenal and Valencia. It was at Arsenal that he was often the laughing stock of the fans because of his play.
Philipp Lahm
He has dedicated his entire career to Bayern apart from a two-year loan spell at Stuttgart. He finished his career in 2017 and is now a management consultant just at VfB Stuttgart.
Kevin Großkreutz
After the 2014 World Cup, his career only went downhill. His stints were Galatasaray, Darmstadt, Uerdingen and he is currently kicking sixth in the league at Wacker Castrop.
Erik Durm
He too hasn’t escaped a career slump. He was still a member of the Dortmund squad until 2018, followed by engagements at Huddersfield and Frankfurt before ending up in the second league at Kaiserslautern.
Christoph Kramer
With the exception of one season at Leverkusen, he has been continuously at Mönchengladbach, where he has also not played as much due to injuries and competition. His last appearance for the national team was in 2016.
Bastian Schweinsteiger
After giving his all for Bayern, he went on to finish his career at Manchester United and Chicago, where he retired in 2020. He works as a television expert for Germany’s ARD.
Toni Kroos
After the championship he moved to Real Madrid, where he still plays today. In total, he has won the Champions League five times. He said goodbye to the national team after the unsuccessful Euro 2021.
Sami Khedira
In 2015, he left Real for Juventus and stayed there until the spring of 2021, when he helped save Hertha Berlin and retired at that point. Like Lahm, he is an advisor to Stuttgart’s management.
Mario Götze
The golden boy of German football didn’t make it through his engagement at Bayern, where he was crushed by the competition. After returning to Dortmund, he was no longer the old Götze. He blossomed at PSV and currently plays for Frankfurt.
Mesut Özil
He used to be one of the best players in the Premier League, but after the 2018 World Cup fiasco, he went downhill footballingly fast. After moving from Arsenal to Fenerbahce in 2021, he ended his career this year at Basaksehir.
Julian Draxler
Another one of the unfulfilled talents. After the championship he earned a transfer to Wolfsburg and then to PSG. Like Götze, he didn’t handle the competition at PSG and didn’t catch on at Benfica either. He is currently playing in the Qatar league for Al-Ahli SC.
André Schürrle
The Chelsea engagement was a big bite for him, so he opted to return to Germany in 2015. Via Wolfsburg, Dortmund and Fulham he made his way to Spartak Moscow, where he retired from football in 2020 just before turning 30 due to lack of motivation.
Thomas Müller
Even though he is far from playing a major role in the club and national team he is still valid for both teams. He has won 12 German titles and has played 123 games for the national team. An absolute legend.
Lukas Podolski
He’s still playing, and he’s still playing in the Polish league at Górnik Zabrze. Before that he went through Arsenal, Inter, Galatasaray, Vissel Kobe and Antalyaspor. He retired from the national team back in 2017.
Miroslav Klose
He ended his career in 2016 as a Lazio player and also as the player with the most goals in the World Cup finals and as the top scorer in the history of the German national team, where he surpassed even the elusive Gerd Müller.
Coach: Joachim Löw
The success of 2014 was followed by a heavy fall and a fiasco at the 2018 championship after which Löw should have left, but stayed. However, after another failed Euro 2021 tournament, he was done.
Source: Transfermarkt, Twitter
