Bundesliga
Germany World Cup winners set for "emotional" farewell
Thomas Müller, Toni Kroos and Manuel Neuer will receive a fond farewell for their two decades of service to the Germany national team at the Allianz Arena.
The Bayern Munich pair and Real Madrid legend will be honoured along with Manchester City’s İlkay Gündoğan as a legendary quartet who retired from international football after Euro 2024.
National team head coach Julian Nagelsmann confirmed there were preparations in place for a ceremony after announcing his 23-man squad for UEFA Nations League matches against Bosnia and Herzegovina (won 2-1) and the Netherlands (October 14).
"We will have a few farewells to great players and great former staff members," Nagelsmann said. "It will be emotional after the game, we will come together as a whole group and honour the achievements of the players, but also the staff.”
The ceremony will take place before the latter match against the Dutch, which will be held at Bayern’s stadium, the home of Müller and Neuer.
Along with Kroos, the duo wrote their names into footballing folklore in 2014 when they played their part in Germany’s World Cup victory, beating Argentina in the final in Brazil thanks to Mario Götze’s legendary extra-time strike. Kroos will not be there in person at the ceremony as he has an engagement at his youth academy in Madrid.
All three of Müller, Neuer and Kroos played in the 2014 final, and also started all seven matches as Germany won their fourth World Cup. Müller also scored five goals, while Kroos managed two.
It was one of four World Cup campaigns for the Bayern duo, with Kroos retiring prior to the 2022 edition before reversing that decision as Germany hosted Euro 2024. Together with his teammates the Real Madrid megastar turned Germany into contenders before their premature exit against eventual champions Spain in the quarter-finals. The quartet then retired permanently after the tournament.
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Following Gündoğan's retirement, Bayern's Joshua Kimmich has taken the armband and captained Germany for the first time in their three UEFA Nations League games to date. Nagelsmann's men have two wins and a draw to their name and are hoping to qualify for the quarter-finals by beating the Netherlands after the ceremony on Monday.