Toni Kroos announces return to German national team for Euro 2024

FIFA World Cup champion midfielder Toni Kroos of Germany will play for "Die Mannschaft" at the coming UEFA European Championship at home after announcing his retirement from the national team in 2021, the 34-year-old announced on Thursday.

"Guys, short and painless: I will play for Germany again from March," Kroos posted on Instagram. "Why? Because I was asked by the national coach, I'm up for it and I'm sure that a lot more is possible with the team at the European Championships than most people believe!"

Kroos has scored 17 goals and delivered 19 assists for Germany in 109 games since his international debut in March 2010. He got two goals and four assists for the team when they won the World Cup title in Brazil in 2014. He assisted Mats Hummels to score the only goal in the quarterfinals against France.

Kroos has been playing for Real Madrid since 2014, scoring 28 goals and delivering 96 assists in 450 appearances. He won three La Liga titles, one Copa del Rey and four UEFA Champions League trophies with the club. Despite being in his mid-thirties, he still has continued to play a key role in the midfield of Los Blancos.

However, what Kroos can bring to Germany will be a different question. The team has been going downhill since they won the World Cup in 2014. They failed to make it out of the group stage at the World Cups in 2018 in Russia or in 2022 in Qatar. Reaching the semifinals at Euro 2016 in France has been the only highlight of the team in nearly a decade, as they were eliminated by their long-time rivals England in the Round of 16 at Euro 2020.

Germany have been the best-performing team at Euros by winning three titles and reaching the final six times, both the most of all participants. They have more to fight for than others at home when the tournament begins on June 14.