Max Kruse Biography

Boasting 99 first-tier goals in 314 appearances mostly in Germany’s Bundesliga, Max Kruse has a wide number of admires following from all around the world, most especially due to his unique technical style of play, his tricks, and his skills, and of course, the outstanding accuracy of his penalties. 

The German was even close to a move to Liverpool for his outstanding performance at Werder Bremen as he has revealed that he was close to signing for Liverpool in 2019 before

's form in the Champions League caused Jurgen Klopp to change his mind about the move.

Origi's Champions League exploits, including a 4-0 comeback win over Barcelona in the semi-finals and Liverpool's final victory over Tottenham, put paid to Max Kruse’s dream, with the forward stating those performances ensured the plug was pulled on his move.

However, despite the move not coming to fruition, the 33-year-old holds no grudge as he’s happy with how his career has gone on, being one of the best strikers in Bundesliga for more than a decade.

Here, we learn about

Max Kruse life story

, starting from his childhood, we evaluate his playing career, analysis of his playing style as well as his personal life.

All You Need to Know About Max Kruse Biography

Here, in

Max Kruse bio

, we first learn some basic facts about the German veteran before going in-depth about his career and his life story.

Max Kruse Information

Max Kruse date of birth

is 19 March 1988, and here are some basic facts about the Wolfsburg forward.

• Full name:

  Max Bennet Kruse

• Nickname:

  Kruse

Personal information

• Date of birth:

  19 March, 1988

• Zodiac sign:

  Pisces

• Place of birth:

  Reinbek, West Germany

• Religion:

  Christian

• Nationality:

  German

• Marital status:

  Married

• Girlfriend Name:

  Dilara Mardine

Body Measurements

• Hair color:

  Brown

• Eye color:

  Brown

• Height:

  1.8 m

• Weight:

  53.9 kg

• Body Type:

  Athletic

Max Kruse Early Life

First of all, we narrate

Max Kruse childhood

 before continuing toward his career. Born on March 19, 1988, in Reinbek, the German footballer’s father is Frank Kruse, and Max’s parents were happy to welcome their baby boy in Reinbek, Kreis Stormarn, and Schleswig-Holstein in the north-eastern border of Hamburg. He grew next to his sister, Pia Kruse.

Max was a football lover from the very beginning as he began his career with hometown club TSV Reinbek before he joined Hamburg-based SV Vier- und Marschlande in summer 1998, aged only 10. After more than seven years there, he was scouted by

in January 2006 and started his senior career with Bremen. However, most of his appearances for the Bremen came through their second team as he signed a two-year contract with FC St. Pauli on 4 May 2009. After signing for St. Pauli in 2009, Kruse scored 13 goals and provided six assists during the 2011-12 2. Bundesliga campaign. Although missing out on the promotion due to goal difference, finishing in fourth place with handsome 62 points.

Max Kruse Profile

In this part of the

Max Kruse biography

, we take a look at the player’s career.

His successful spell with

earned Max a €0.5m move to Freiburg on Jul 1, 2012, after contributing 22 goals and 16 assists through 100 appearances for the Kiezkicker. He made his competitive debut for his new club on 18 August 2012 in a DFB-Pokal match against Victoria Hamburg, which ended in a 2–1 victory as Kruse scored the opening goal and provided the assist for Sebastian Freis's winner. He scored in his home debut against Mainz 05 as well, helping his side secure a fragile 1-1 Bundesliga draw. He scored 12 goals and provided 10 assists through 39 appearances in his sole season at Freiburg. In his penultimate game with Freiburg on 11 May, he was awarded "Man of the Match" honors as he scored the winning goal in a 2–1 defeat of Greuther Fürth. However, the final-game week victory couldn’t secure Freiburg an automatic spot in the Europa League group stage for next season but was enough for Max to secure the next step of his career with a move to German giants, Borussia Mönchengladbach. A €2.50m fee was enough to make Freiburg accept the departure of their star player as Kruse signed a four-year deal with Gladbach on Jul 1, 2013. He continued his outstanding performance for another couple of years with the German giants, scoring 25 goals and providing 22 assists through 77 appearances.

Already established as one of the top strikers of German football, on 10 May 2015, VfL Wolfsburg signed Kruse on a four-year deal, after activating his release clause of €12 million. He made his debut as a 70th-minute substitute on 1 August in the 2015 DFL-Supercup and scored in the penalty shootout as Wolfsburg defeated

after a 1–1 draw. On 8 August 2015, Kruse scored his first goal for Wolfsburg in the fourth minute of a 4–1 win at Stuttgarter Kickers. Scoring 11 goals and providing 12 assists for then-Champions League outfit Wolfsburg, his stay at the club was limited to a season as he re-joined Werder Bremen for a second stint at the club on 2 August 2016. 

Max Kruse nationality

is German as he capped his country 14 times since 2013, especially through the UEFA Euro 2016 campaign.

He scored his first goal for Werder Bremen in his third league appearance on 3 December 2016, in a 2–1 win against Ingolstadt. He made the headlines on 22 April 2017, he scored four goals in one match for the first time in his career as Werder Bremen came back from 0–1 and 1–2 deficits to defeat Ingolstadt 4–2 and maintain a 10-match unbeaten run.

Ahead of the 2018–19 season, Kruse was chosen as the team's captain by manager Florian Kohfeldt., and till October 2019, he was the player with the longest active penalty scoring streak – 24 goals. He had not missed a single penalty in six years. His streak started on 7 April 2012. He decided not to renew his contract with the club after scoring 35 goals and providing 31 assists through 93 appearances through three seasons.

Kruse joined Fenerbahçe on a three-year deal on 28 June 2019. Scoring 7 goals and provided 8 assists in 23 appearances before terminating his contract with the club citing unpaid wages on 18 June 2020. Kruse returned to the Bundesliga joining Union Berlin in August 2020.

He scored his first goal for Union and the game's opener in a 4–0 win against Mainz 05 before scoring a penalty and assisting two goals in a 3–1 win against 1899 Hoffenheim on 3 November. Kruse made the records on 7 November 2020, when he scored a penalty to equalize Hans-Joachim Abel's Bundesliga record for most penalties scored (16) without a single miss. On the last matchday of the season, he scored a goal in stoppage time to beat RB Leipzig 2–1 and qualify

for the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League, their first European football since the 2001–02 UEFA Cup.

He soon became a fan favorite at Union Berlin, scoring 19 goals and providing 12 assists through 45 appearances. However, he made a shock return to Wolfsburg for a €5m fee in January 2022. Max Kruse stunned the Union Berlin by asking for a transfer to his former team Wolfsburg at the other end of the Bundesliga, with the forward set to rejoin Wolfsburg on the last day of the winter transfer window. The former Germany striker asked Union fans for their “understanding for my decision to accept an offer that is long-term and highly paid.”

So far in two months, he continued to impress at Wolfsburg, scoring 2 goals in 6 appearances.

Style of Play

Here in this part of

Max Kruse biography

, we take a complete look at his playing style.

The 33-year-old may not be the tallest of players at 5’11”, but his clever movement and vicious left boot can cause problems for even the stingiest of backlines.

Freiburg,

, Werder Bremen, and Union Berlin have all reaped the benefits thereof since he made his professional breakthrough at Bundesliga 2 side St. Pauli, with 90 goals in 288 top-flight appearances in Germany prior to returning to Wolfsburg in January 2022.

On Matchday 30 of the 2016/17 season, he scored four times in Bremen’s 4-2 win over Ingolstadt, including a hat-trick in the final 10 minutes. He finished that campaign with a personal-best 15, and only Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Robert Lewandowski, Timo Werner and Anthony Modeste had better minutes-per-goal ratios that term. That quartet all played in at least 31 games, whereas injuries limited Kruse to just 23.

He also grabbed a hat-trick and an assist in a 4-0 triumph over Hannover on Matchday 12 in 2017/18, while an incredible run of six goals and three assists in just four matches in March 2019 earned him – quite rightly – the Bundesliga Player of the Month award.

His skills did not go unnoticed by Germany coach Joachim Löw, who handed him the first of 14 international caps in a 4-2 friendly win over Ecuador on 29 May 2013. Kruse scored his maiden goal for Die Mannschaft in his next game, a 4-3 defeat to the US in Washington DC, and found the net four times overall for Germany.

Reception

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a man who thrives on the thrill of the high-stakes moment, Kruse has only ever missed one penalty in the Bundesliga. He had the chance to equal the best-mark of 17 consecutive converted spot-kicks held jointly by Robert Lewandowski and former goalkeeper Hans-Jörg Butt but missed against Cologne in November 2020.

Nevertheless, he has scored 22 times from the spot overall in the Bundesliga, and 32 in all competitions.

Goal Celebration

The former Union Berlin striker, 33, delivered the 75th-minute corner which Felix Uduokhai powered home with a thumping header to hand Stefan Kuntz's side a 3-2 victory, Germany’s first win of this Olympic Games.

After Germany saw out the win, Kruse decided to propose to his other half Dilan in the post-match interview. He took off his top and displayed a message on his vest which read

"I love you. Would you like to marry me

?"

Kruse's Kurdish girlfriend reportedly said 'Ere' which means yes, and the former Borussia Monchengladbach, VfL Wolfsburg and Werder Bremen man later confirmed the news on his Instagram. He posted a video of him in the team bus with the message:

"She said yes

."

Max Kruse Outside Football

Outside the football,

Max Kruse biography

is as interesting as inside the pitch. Kruse left Bremen at the end of the 2018/19 season to join

. If it came as a surprise that he bade farewell to his boyhood team, that was nothing compared to the sight of him taking to the stage on New Year’s Eve 2019 in the Turkish version of the musical talent show ‘The Voice’.

Sporting bleached blonde hair and wearing a dapper suit and bowtie, Kruse sang the Dean Martin crooner classic “Sway”. His vocals in what he later admitted were his first time singing in public evidently, ahem, swayed the judges, with three of the four turning their chairs around in a sign of approval.

Besides football, another passion of Kruse is motorcycles, to the extent that he set up the ‘Max Kruse Racing' team in January 2018. Although he doesn’t drive in any races himself, he oversees everyday operations alongside his father Frank.

Max Kruse Personal Life

Kruse was born in Reinbek in the north-eastern periphery of Hamburg and was raised there along with his sibling, Pia. Being born and raised in a Christian family,

Max Kruse religion

is Christianity.

In February 2021, Kruse was one of more than 800 professional footballers, across both the men's and women's games, who signed a petition in German football magazine 11 Freunde to support gay players.

Max is also a poker expert and has admitted previously that he could envisage taking it up full-time when he retires from football. In June 2014 he came third out of 241 players at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, while the following year he ended up 26th out of 387.

In 2017 he reached the final of the $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw, and led for a long period. Eventually, though, he came as the fourth place but still took home a cool $28,740 in prize money after a buy-in of $1,500.

Family, Children and Relationships

has a son with his first wife Alina, who was born in 2011 and is named Lauro Maxim Kruse. The two broke up in 2019. Lauro Maxim has been living with his mother in the US state of Florida for years.

However, Max proposed to his then-girlfriend and now wife, Dilara Mardine, after a 3-2 victory over Saudi Arabia at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Dilara replied on Instagram with “Yes!” and as of December 2021, the couple is officially married.

Dilara Mardine became one of the most talked and curious names after the surprise marriage proposal from German football player Maximilian Kruse. The marriage proposal made by German football player Maximilian Kruse to Dilara Mardine in a live broadcast aroused great interest in social media. After the incident that came to the fore, many people are doing research on Dilara Mardine. Dilara Mardine, of Kurdish origin, who lives in Germany, shares photos taken with her lover on her Instagram account under the username “dilaramardine”.

Philanthropy

Max Kruse hosted a charity poker tournament at his home on Sunday evening, May 12, for the benefit of the non-profit water initiative Viva con Agua. In the run-up to the event, Werder fans had wondered why there was no furniture in the room at the professional's home in the Facebook video. Conceived and brought together by actor Hank Azaria and journalist, author, and screenwriter Andy Bellin, this unique event is fast building momentum.  Spaces are limited and celebrities already registered include Edward Norton, Brian Koppelman, Amy Schumer, Bryan Cranston, Don Cheadle, Michael Cera, Jon Hamm, Jeff Garlin, David Schwimmer, Eric Bogosian, Jason Alexander, Brad Garrett, Michael Ian Black, Kevin Pollak, Tony Yazbeck, Max Kruse, and many more.

Legal Issues

There’s no legal issue reported for the

so far as the only time he appeared in the court was for his unpaid wage from Fenerbahce.

Max Kruse Career Statistics

In this section of Max Kruse biography, we bring you all the career statistics of the German veteran who had successful spells at FC St. Pauli, SC Freiburg, Gladbach, Wolfsburg, Werder Bremen, Fenerbahce, and Union Berlin.

Club

Boasting 99 first-tier goals in 314 appearances mostly in Germany’s Bundesliga, he started his senior career with Saint Pauli, contributing 22 goals and 16 assists through 100 appearances for the Kiezkicker. He scored 12 goals and provided 10 assists through 39 appearances in his sole season at Freiburg. He continued his outstanding performance for another couple of years with Borussia Mönchengladbach, scoring 25 goals and providing 22 assists through 77 appearances. Scoring 11 goals and providing 12 assists for then-Champions League outfit Wolfsburg, his stay at the club was limited to a season as he re-joined Werder Bremen for a second stint at the club on 2 August 2016, where he continued scoring 35 goals and providing 31 assists through 93 appearances through three seasons. Kruse joined Fenerbahçe on a three-year deal on 28 June 2019. Scoring 7 goals and provided 8 assists in 23 appearances before terminating his contract with the club citing unpaid wages on 18 June 2020. He then joined Union Berlin, scoring 19 goals and providing 12 assists through 45 appearances before leaving for Wolfsburg in January 2022. Contributing a total of 157 goals and 132 assists through 540 appearances in 15 years, Kruse had already an amazing playing career but he's continuing to even build more on that.

International

Kruse was a member of the Germany U-19 that competed at the 2007 UEFA U-19 Championship and also featured for the under-21 team, but he received his first call up to the senior squad for a friendly against Ecuador on 29 May 2013 in Boca Raton, Florida. Kruse scored his first goal for the national team in his second cap, scoring Germany's second goal in a 4–3 defeat to the United States in Washington. During qualification for UEFA Euro 2016, Kruse scored twice in a 7–0 win over Gibraltar on 13 June 2015. After not having represented Germany since 2015, Kruse was named as one of Germany's three overage players for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He has scored 4 goals in 14 Germany senior team appearances he made.

Max Kruse Honors

Despite his good individual performances, Kruse’s trophy cabinet is still quite empty. Only the 2015-16 DFL Supercup was won by the 33-year-old, who was still playing for VfL Wolfsburg at the time. Kruse finished second with Werder Bremen in 2007/08. He took part in the Europa League with Gladbach in 2014/15. His salary is estimated at around 2.4 million euros per year.

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