What's going to happen to Christoph Kramer now?
Christoph Kramer can do a lot, does a lot, and does most things very well. However, his main activity on the football field is no longer recommended. Kramer is, in a sense, on his way to becoming a part-time football professional.
No TV expert during the European Football Championship received as much praise from critics as Christoph Kramer. The 2014 World Cup winner knows how to win over the hearts of the audience. Kramer almost always hits the right note, offering the perfect mix of detailed analysis and entertainment. No surprise that Kramer also brings this combination of insightful analysis and a touch of humor to the podcast "Copa TS." In the format of ZDF moderator Tommi Schmitt, with whom Kramer has been friends for some time, the football World Cup winner appears regularly. Kramer is part of the regular ensemble.
This also applies to the Baller League, a YouTube influencer football hall league that aims to appeal to viewers who find a 90-minute football match too long and boring. In the Baller League, Kramer has even become one of the team managers.
But it doesn't stop at TV, podcasts, and Baller League. Kramer has even become a published author. The 33-year-old has written a so-called "coming-of-age novel," which the renowned publisher Kiepenheuer and Witsch has announced for spring 2025. "It has nothing to do with football. It's about love, about disappointment, about growing up," Kramer already announced during the EM in the Bild podcast "Phrasemakers." "Every word is self-written, I sat at my desk every evening for two to three hours for a year. It gave me an unusually amount of joy, it gave me a lot in a not so easy time," Kramer said.
Why this time was "not easy" Kramer did not elaborate on. Fact is: His sporting star has set in recent years, and Christoph Kramer's main occupation, the profession of a football player, has at least in public perception, taken a back seat. Some might wonder: How does he do it? How does Christoph Kramer manage all his activities? Football professional, author, TV expert, podcaster, Baller League team coach. Christoph Kramer is long the jack-of-all-trades of German football and probably the only de facto part-time professional in the Bundesliga.
Factually, Kramer is still employed as a Bundesliga professional with Borussia Mönchengladbach. However, the end of Kramer's time on the Lower Rhine is only a matter of time. Both sides have been negotiating unsuccessfully for months about a contract dissolution.
At his Borussia, Kramer made a comeback in the 2022/23 season under then-coach Daniel Farke. Because the native Solingen resident performed well, Kramer and Borussia extended their contract by two more years in 2023. Looking back, however, only Kramer benefited from this, not the club. Under Farke's successor Gerardo Seoane, Kramer didn't get a foot on the ground. In the entire last season, Kramer only started once.
In the second half of the season, the midfielder suddenly vanished. Borussia communicated vaguely about why Kramer was not ready to play or train for weeks. Only Kramer himself revealed the secret after the season ended, unsurprisingly in the podcast "Copa TS". "I had a really, really bad lung infection," Kramer reported. "Just walking from the bed to the kitchen, I had to take a ten-minute break, it was intense. I also had a fever for eight or nine days. It really knocked me out."
The future seems completely open
In the summer, Kramer sought a conversation with coach Seoane and sporting director Roland Virkus to assess his chances for the coming season. The verdict was not surprising: Kramer has no chance, Borussia's midfield is well-stocked both quantitatively and qualitatively.
Kramer does not play a role in the plans anymore, but he still has a contract until 2025 with an estimated annual salary of around three million euros. Gladbach wants to get rid of him. Kramer has every right to insist on his valid contract. However, reports are increasing that the stalled negotiations are nearing an end, and Kramer will receive a severance package in exchange for being removed from the payroll before the end of the transfer period at the end of August.
Whether and how Kramer's football career will continue is uncertain. It's possible he will retire. Equally likely, he might continue his career for a few more years, playing for a smaller club at a lower salary. One thing is certain: Christoph Kramer will remain omnipresent and will certainly continue to be very successful in life. Just not primarily as a professional footballer.
Despite his challenges on the football field, Christoph Kramer continues to excel off it, particularly in the world of media. He frequently appears as a TV expert for ZDF, offering a mix of insightful analysis and humor, and is a regular on the podcast "Copa TS." Beyond that, Kramer has also become a team manager in the Baller League and a published author, writing a "coming-of-age novel" about love, disappointment, and growing up.
