News (engl.)

National team star Florian Wirtz has been voted as Germany’s men’s Player of the Year for the first time. The 22-year-old, who left Bayer Leverkusen to join Liverpool FC this summer, came out on top in a vote run by sport magazine kicker with 191 votes, finishing ahead of FC Bayern’s Michael Olise (81) and U21 EUROs runner-up Nick Woltemade of VfB Stuttgart (71). SC Freiburg’s Julian Schuster was recognised as Coach of the Year after an impressive fifth-place finish in 2024/25.

 “In football at least, individual honours are first and foremost a recognition of the team as a whole,” said Wirtz. “At the same time however, this award represents a really special personal achievement and also a huge encouragement for myself when looking to the future. I understand that I still have a lot of work to do to meet everyone’s expectations, which I also demand of myself.”

Upon last year’s award being handed to Toni Kroos at the end of an illustrious career, DFB sporting director Rudi Völler felt certain that Florian Wirtz “would win this award sooner rather than later.”

A year on, national team coach Julian Nagelsmann is able to congratulate his “magician”: “It’s indisputable to say that Flo is an outstanding footballer. It’s simply a joy to watch him on the ball – his creativity and courage with the ball at his feet in particular amaze the whole footballing world. He’s also incredibly hard-working, humble and prepared to do whatever is asked of him, and in the last year in particular, he’s taken a huge step forward in terms of his understanding of the game. He absolutely deserves this honour and I would like to congratulate him on it.”

After Bayer Leverkusen’s domestic double in 2023/24, Wirtz led the side to a second-place finish last season with ten goals and 13 assists in 31 appearances. Playing regularly for the German national team, Wirtz also made the semi-finals of this year’s UEFA Nations League.