Bundesliga
They went all the way to glory in Rio, a 23-man squad - including Manuel Neuer, Mesut Özil and Thomas Müller - made up of youth, some experience and immense talent. Yet who made up the cast that took Germany to their fourth FIFA World Cup win in Brazil and where are they now?
bundesliga.com scans the names behind the squad numbers of the heroes of 2014 ..
1. Manuel Neuer (players ordered by squad number at Brazil 2014)
The finest goalkeeper on the planet not only lifted the World Cup in Rio, but he was also awarded the Golden Glove as the tournament's best custodian, making 25 saves and keeping four clean sheets at the finals. Even now at 39, the Bayern Munich and Germany captain is still proving he’s the best between the sticks and is up to 11 Bundesliga titles and two continental trebles. He retired from international duty after Euro 2024 and in February 2025 signed another contract extension at Bayern to summer 2026
Watch: Neuer's top 5 Bundesliga saves
2. Kevin Großkreutz
An often controversial figure during the end of his Borussia Dortmund days, Großkreutz went into the 2014 finals as a double Bundesliga winner and UEFA Champions League finalist. Immensely versatile, the winger/full-back made six senior international appearances during his career, but failed to get any playing time in Brazil. A spell at VfB Stuttgart preceded a move to second-tier Darmstadt and then third-division Uerdingen before announcing his retirement in January 2021. He’s since been playing amateur football with local teams in Dortmund, Bövinghausen and Wacker Obercastrop.
Another former Dortmund man, Ginter was a Freiburg player when he was called into Joachim Löw's finals squad. At 20, the centre-back was the youngest player in Germany's set-up but didn't make an appearance at the tournament. Four days after the final, he signed for BVB before switching Borussias to Mönchengladbach three years later. After five years and more than 150 appearances, he returned home to Freiburg in summer 2022, bringing his experience of now 51 senior international caps, including the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup. He last represented Germany in 2023.
A centre-back by trade, Schalke youth product Höwedes was somewhat surprisingly used as a left-back in Brazil, but went down in history as one of 10 Germany players to win the World Cup having played every single minute of the tournament. He finished his international career in 2017 with 44 caps. After well over 300 appearances for Die Königsblauen, Höwedes joined Juventus on a season-long loan in 2017/18. His permanent departure from Schalke came the following year as he joined Lokomotiv Moscow. The now 37-year-old retired in July 2020 and would become part of Hansi Flick’s backroom staff with the national team. He also works as a TV pundit.
Watch: Unlikely world champion left-back Höwedes leaves boyhood club Schalke
5. Mats Hummels
Hummels has enjoyed a trophy-laden career that includes five Bundesliga titles across numerous spells at Bayern and Dortmund, plus the 2014 triumph in Brazil, where he was first-choice centre-back throughout and also scored the winning goal in the quarter-final against France. The last of his 78 caps came in November 2023, having made his senior debut over a decade earlier. The 36-year-old left the Bundesliga in 2024 after 442 appearances. He went on to join Roma in Italy, but in March 2025 announced he would retire at the end of the season.
Watch: The best of Hummels in the Bundesliga
6. Sami Khedira
The ying to Bastian Schweinsteiger's yang in central midfield for Löw, Khedira was a key cog in Germany's machine, featuring in five of the team's seven games in Brazil. The former VfB Stuttgart midfielder scored Germany's fifth against the hosts in the semis, before making way for Julian Draxler in the second half. The title win crowned a memorable summer for the then 27-year-old, who lifted the Champions League trophy with Real Madrid just a couple of months earlier. He moved on to Juventus in summer 2015, winning back-to-back league and cup doubles with the Italian giants. After five years in Serie A, Khedira spent six months at Hertha Berlin before hanging up his boots in June 2021. He would go on to return to Stuttgart as an advisor and work as a pundit for ARD.
The heartbeat of the Germany team in Brazil, Schweinsteiger’s performance in the final is regarded as one of the best of any Germany player. He played a final season at boyhood club Bayern following the World Cup - winning what was a record-equalling eighth Bundesliga title at the time – before moving to Manchester United in summer 2015. The midfielder took over the Germany captaincy after Philipp Lahm's retirement, before stepping down from the international game himself in August 2016. He left Manchester for Chicago Fire in March 2017, where he spent two and a half years before retiring and returning to Germany, where he now works as a television pundit.
Watch: Schweinsteiger, made in the Bundesliga
8. Mesut Özil
An outrageously gifted playmaker, the former Schalke, Werder Bremen and Real Madrid midfielder started all seven of Germany's matches in Brazil. Özil remained a key part of Löw’s plans up to and including the 2018 World Cup, when he earned the last of his 92 senior caps. After seven years at Arsenal, where he became the fastest player in English Premier League history to bring up 50 assists, he joined Fenerbahce in January 2021 before moving to fellow Turkish SüperLig side Basaksehir in July 2022. Özil announced his immediate retirement due to recurrent injuries in March 2023. His list of honours include the DFB Cup with Bremen, La Liga and Copa del Rey with Real and four FA Cups with Arsenal.
Schürrle played in six of Germany's games en route to glory and had a star turn in the 7-1 thrashing of the hosts in the semi-finals, coming off the bench to score Germany's last two goals – before going on to set up Mario Götze for the all-important winner against Argentina in the final. He played the first half of 2014/15 with Chelsea – playing enough games to win a Premier League winners' medal the following May – but joined Wolfsburg during the winter break. The attacking midfielder helped the Wolves win the DFB Cup that year before joining Dortmund in summer 2016, and helping them win it the following season. Schürrle spent the 2018/19 season on loan in England with Fulham in the Premier League and had a brief spell in Russia with Spartak Moscow before retiring at the age of 29 in 2020. He now has various business and investment ventures.
10. Lukas Podolski
Fourth in Germany's all-time list of most-capped players, Podolski earned just two of his 130 caps in Brazil, in the group games against Portugal and USA. Famed for his thunderous left foot, the former Cologne and Bayern star was a highly valued (and popular) member of Germany's squad despite his limited minutes on the pitch, thanks to his experience and laid-back, jovial demeanour. 'Poldi' had a third and final season at Arsenal after Brazil 2014 and has had a nomadic career path ever since, taking in stints in Italy (Inter Milan), Turkey (Galatasaray, Antalyaspor), Japan (Vissel Kobe) and now Poland (Gornik Zabrze), where the now 39-year-old has been since summer 2021. But he still has strong links to his hometown of Cologne, including a popular kebab shop.
Watch: Podolski's best long-range goals
11. Miroslav Klose
The elder statesman of the 2014 squad at 36, the former Werder and Bayern striker made himself an immortal in World Cup history with the second goal against the Seleção, overtaking Brazil's Ronaldo as the tournament's all-time leading scorer (16). He chose to bow out at the top after the World Cup, although he kept playing at club level with Lazio until summer 2016. Later that same year he began a DFB coaching course and joined Germany's staff. In May 2018, Germany's all-time record goalscorer (71 goals) was named Bayern’s U17 coach and was Flick's first-team assistant in 2020/21. He took his first role as head coach of a professional side at the start of 2022/23 with Austrian Bundesliga club Altach before taking over Bundesliga 2 side Nuremberg for the 2024/25 season.
Zieler was - and still is - regarded as a reliable pair of hands in goal. The former Manchester United goalkeeper had been a regular in Germany's squads since making his debut in a friendly against Ukraine in 2011, but was an unused substitute throughout the 2014 World Cup. He had two more seasons at Hannover after Brazil before a short-lived spell in the Premier League with Leicester City. Zieler, who was last called up to the national team in 2015, returned to Germany in 2017 with Stuttgart. He his now back at Hannover and remains the team's first-choice custodian in Bundesliga 2 at the age of 36, making over 375 appearances for the club across his two spells.
13. Thomas Müller
A German famed for his sense of humour and laid-back manner? Don't be fooled by Müller's off-field charisma, though; he's as ruthless as they come when he steps onto a football pitch. Müller scored five times at Brazil 2014, taking his career World Cup total to 10. The last of his 131 senior caps came at Euro 2024 on home soil. He is the most decorated player in Bundesliga history with 12 titles, plus a further 21 other winner's medals at club level. His 25-year spell on the books at Bayern is set to end in summer 2025.
Watch: Müller's funniest moments
14. Julian Draxler
Like Ginter, Draxler was just 20 when he joined up with Germany's all-conquering squad in 2014, having already had four seasons of Bundesliga football by that stage. The Schalke youth academy product came on a substitute as the eventual winners overwhelmed Brazil in Belo Horizonte, while he was an unused sub in the showpiece against Argentina five days later. Draxler moved on to Wolfsburg ahead of the 2015/16 season before joining Paris Saint-Germain in January 2017. He played a big part in his nation's Euro 2016 semi-final run and captained Germany to Confederations Cup glory in 2017. Draxler was a regular member of the national team's squads until 2022, when he earned the last of his 58 caps. The 31-year-old left PSG for Benfica in summer 2022 and then joined Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia the following year.
15. Erik Durm
Just beginning to realise his phenomenal potential at Dortmund, full-back Durm was rewarded with a place in the 2014 squad for Brazil after his maiden Bundesliga season. Debuting against Cameroon in a pre-World Cup friendly, the then 22-year-old was an unused substitute at the finals but did collect four more caps in Euro 2016 qualifiers thereafter. Since then, however, he suffered rotten luck on the injury front, with hip and ankle problems following two knee complaints, meaning his last Germany cap came in November 2014. He left Dortmund in 2017 and failed to play at all in 2017/18 owing to injury, before returning to action with Premier League side Huddersfield in 2018. Three campaigns at Eintracht Frankfurt followed – including their UEFA Europa League triumph in May 2022 – before he joined boyhood club Kaiserslautern in Bundesliga 2 for the 2022/23 campaign. He retired from professional football in 2024 and has since been playing for boyhood club Rieschweiler at amateur level.
16. Philipp Lahm
On a roll of honour that read Fritz Walter (1954), Franz Beckenbauer (1974) and Lothar Matthäus (1990), the name Philipp Lahm was added in 2014. The Bayern great raised the trophy as captain of his country, just like those legendary players did before him. Lahm completed the most passes in Brazil, his tally standing at an immense 562, while his two assists in the semi-final win against Brazil added even more gloss. The former full-back turned defensive midfielder, once hailed by erstwhile Bayern tactician Pep Guardiola as the "most intelligent player I've ever coached", retired from the game in 2017 following 500 games and 21 titles. He was recently part of the organising committee for Euro 2024 in Germany.
Watch: Thanks for the memories, Philipp Lahm!
17. Per Mertesacker
The central defender played alongside Hummels for the opening four games of World Cup 2014 before Boateng was brought in from a wide position to start both the semi-final and the final. At 6'6", the ex-Hannover and Bremen colossus - affectionately known as the BFG - hung up his international boots after the tournament, with some 104 caps to reminisce upon. He retired as a player altogether in 2018 following seven seasons at Arsenal, where he won the FA Cup three times, and is now in charge of the Gunners' youth academy.
18. Toni Kroos
Already regarded as one of the finest midfielders in the game at the start of Brazil 2014, Kroos was well and truly a global star by the end of it. The technically gifted playmaker, who enjoyed a two-year loan spell at Bayer Leverkusen from Bayern from 2008 to 2010, had a fantastic tournament in central midfield in Brazil, starting every game and scoring twice in the statement 7-1 win against the hosts. He left Bayern for Real Madrid following the tournament, where he would win five more Champions Leagues to go with his 2013 success for Bayern, plus four La Liga titles to take his personal collection up to 34 trophies - the most by any German player at professional level. He retired from club and international football after Euro 2024 at the age of 34.
19. Mario Götze
"Show the world you are better than Messi,” Löw told Götze before sending him into the 2014 World Cup final two minutes before the end of normal time. In the 113th minute, Super Mario netted the winning goal that brought Germany a fourth world crown. Only 22 then, Götze had made the switch from Dortmund to Guardiola's Bayern only the previous year. Following three up-and-down seasons in Bavaria, he returned to Dortmund where a metabolic illness and a series of injuries limited his playing time. Götze enjoyed two successful seasons in the Netherlands at PSV Eindhoven before returning to the Bundesliga with Frankfurt in 2022/23. His fine form for the Eagles earned him a recall to the Germany squad for the 2022 World Cup, where he collected his first cap since November 2017.
Watch: Analysing Mario Götze
20. Jérôme Boateng
Germany's Mr. Versatile at the finals, Boateng was used on the right of defence and at centre-back and was another of those who played a part in all seven matches, group stage to final. The Berlin native went on to fill his trophy cabinet further at Bayern, where he spent 10 seasons in total before joining Lyon in summer 2021. Now 36, he earned the last of his 76 Germany caps in a UEFA Nations League defeat by the Netherlands in October 2018. He's had subsequent spells in Italy at Salernitana and in Austria with LASK.
21. Shkodran Mustafi
Mustafi was still at the start of his career when the stars aligned for him. Just 22 at the time, he made his Germany debut in May 2014 after an impressive season at Sampdoria. He was cut from Löw's original World Cup squad but was later recalled as the chief beneficiary of Marco Reus' misfortune (more on that below). He took to the pitch three times in Brazil before joining Valencia after the tournament. Mustafi subsequently had spells at Arsenal, Schalke and in Spain for Levante. He won the last of his 20 Germany caps in October 2017 and retired in 2024, going on to work as a coach for Germany's U17s.
The second-oldest player in the squad at 33, Weidenfeller was back-up to Neuer throughout the tournament but never actually took to the pitch in Brazil. He won the first of just five Germany caps in November 2013, with his final appearance coming against Gibraltar in a European Championship qualifier in June 2015. The long-standing Dortmund goalkeeper won two Bundesliga titles and two DFB Cups during his 16 uninterrupted years at the club, even if 2014/15 was his last campaign as first-choice custodian following the arrival of Roman Bürki. He hung up his gloves for good at the end of 2017/18 and is now part of Dortmund's Legends network as well as working as a pundit for German channel RTL.
Watch: Boateng's Bundesliga mixtape
23. Christoph Kramer
Like Mustafi, Kramer was something of a surprise inclusion in the final squad, having only made his senior debut a month earlier. Just 23 at the time, Kramer had enjoyed an impressive debut Bundesliga campaign with Mönchengladbach, scoring three times in 33 appearances in central midfield after originally joining on loan from Leverkusen. Although he did not feature at all in the group stage in Brazil, he did play against both Algeria (last 16) and France (quarter-finals) and was a surprise starter in the final against Argentina after Khedira withdrew in the warm-up through injury. He only lasted half an hour of that match, however, before being substituted off for Schürrle due to concussion after asking the referee: "Is this the World Cup final?". Kramer remained at Gladbach in the decade after the World Cup before leaving at the start of the 2024/25 season. He is a highly regarded pundit for Germany TV channel ZDF for international games.
Honorary mention for: Marco Reus
The attacking midfielder, 25 at the time, was in Löw's original World Cup squad and was set to play a big role in Brazil. However, he injured his ankle in the team's last warm-up game against Armenia, just 10 days ahead of the finals, which ruled him out of the tournament altogether. He was not forgotten though, with close friend Götze holding aloft a Germany shirt with Reus' name on the back during their on-pitch celebrations after the final. The long-time Dortmund captain did get to go to a World Cup four years later, before lighting struck again and injury ruled him out of 2022. He left boyhood club BVB in 2024 to join LA Galaxy in Major League Soccer.
Coach: Joachim Löw
Having previously been Germany assistant coach under Jürgen Klinsmann, Löw stepped into the hotseat in July 2006 when his former boss decided not to renew is contract. The duo were key in re-imagining German football and were key proponents of a more modern, pro-active, attacking style. After several near misses, including defeat in the 2008 European Championship final and the semi-finals at both the 2010 World Cup and 2012 Euros, Germany's progress was finally rewarded with the 2014 triumph. Die Mannschaft were widely fancied to retain their title in Russia in 2018, particularly after sweeping to Confederations Cup glory a year earlier with what was essentially a reserve team. Löw stayed on as head coach until the end of the 2020 European Championship, which took place in summer 2021, his 15 years in the role the longest ever for an international tactician. He hasn't taken on a job since.