Christian Groß

Christian Groß
	Groß with Werder Bremen in 2019
Personal information
Date of birth	8 February 1989 (age 35)
Place of birth	Bremen, West Germany
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Defensive midfielder, centre back
Youth career
	SC Sternbusch
	BV Cloppenburg
0000–2006	VfL Osnabrück
2006–2008	Hamburger SV
Senior career*
Years	Team
2008–2011	Hamburger SV II
2009–2011	Hamburger SV
2011–2013	SV Babelsberg 03
2013–2014	Sportfreunde Lotte
2014–2018	VfL Osnabrück
2018–2019	Werder Bremen II
2019–2024	Werder Bremen
Total
International career
2010	Germany U20
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Christian Groß (born 8 February 1989) is a German former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder or centre back.^[2]^[3]

Career

After playing in the youth team of VfL Osnabrück for a year, Groß joined the youth department of Hamburger SV in 2006, at the age of 17. After two years in the Hamburg under-19 team, he was promoted to Hamburger SV II in 2008, which played in the Regionalliga Nord. He became a regular in the defensive midfield in the second half of the season, and was given a professional contract for the following season. He trained with the first team and was one of the most important players in the second team, but never made an appearance in the Bundesliga. During his time at Hamburg II, he was called up to the German under-20 national team, where he made a brief appearance in a friendly against Italy on 7 April 2010.^[4]

In 2011, he decided to leave Hamburger SV and joined SV Babelsberg 03. He made his first appearance in professional football on 23 July 2011, the first matchday of the 2011–12 3. Liga. For the 2014–15 season, he moved to his youth club VfL Osnabrück, where he was a regular in the defensive midfield and was the team's captain from 2016 onwards. He joined fourth-division club Werder Bremen II for the 2018–19 season, where he was also named team captain and, as one of the few older players in the under-23 team, had the task of passing on his experience to the young talents.^[5]

In the pre-season of the 2019–20 season, Groß trained with the Werder Bremen first team. He was called up as a centre-back as there were not enough players available for this position due to injuries.^[6] After good training and test match performances, Groß debuted in an official match for Bremen's first team on 11 August 2019 in a 6−1 win against Atlas Delmenhorst in the first round of the DFB Cup.^[7] On 1 September, he made his Bundesliga debut at the age of 30, coming on as a substitute in a 3−2 win over FC Augsburg. With now five Werder defenders injured, he played the next four league games as a centre back. The original plan to reassign him to the second team at some point during the season was ultimately scrapped because of his good performances.^[8] In the 2019−20 season, Groß played a total of 14 Bundesliga matches, appearing just once for the second team.

Groß remained part of the Bundesliga squad in the 2020–21 season^[9] and was now regularly deployed in both central defence and defensive midfield, making 23 appearances in total. At the end of the season, Werder Bremen were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga. In June 2021, Groß was the first player of the Bremen squad to announce that he would continue to play for Werder Bremen in the second division.^[10] At the end of the 2021–22 season, the club was promoted back to the first division, with Groß appearing in 27 league matches.

In March 2024, Groß announced his intention to end his playing career at the end of the 2023–24 season.^[11] On 18 May 2024, he played his last Bundesliga match against VfL Bochum.^[12] Starting from September 2024, he will work in the scouting department of Bayer Leverkusen.^[13]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club	Season	League			DFB-Pokal		Other		Total		Ref.
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Ref.
Hamburger SV II	2008–09	Regionalliga Nord	18	1	—		—		18	1	^[14]
	2009–10	Regionalliga Nord	29	3	—		—		29	3	^[14]
	2010–11	Regionalliga Nord	20	3	—		—		20	3	^[14]
	Total		67	7	0	0	0	0	67	7	—
SV Babelsberg 03	2011–12	3. Liga	13	0	1	0	—		14	0	^[14]
	2012–13	3. Liga	37	2	0	0	—		37	2	^[14]
	Total		50	2	1	0	0	0	51	2	—
Sportfreunde Lotte	2013–14	Regionalliga West	35	1	0	0	0	0	35	1	^[14]
VfL Osnabrück	2014–15	3. Liga	34	0	0	0	–		34	0	^[14]
	2015–16	3. Liga	37	4	1	0	—		38	4	^[14]
	2016–17	3. Liga	26	1	0	0	—		26	1	^[14]
	2017–18	3. Liga	35	0	2	1	—		37	1	^[14]
	Total		132	5	3	1	0	0	135	6	—
Werder Bremen II	2018–19	Regionalliga Nord	30	9	–		—		30	9	^[14]
	2019–20	Regionalliga Nord	1	0	–		–		1	0	^[14]
	Total		31	9	0	0	0	0	31	9	—
Werder Bremen	2019–20	Bundesliga	14	0	1	0	2^[a]	0	17	0	^[14]
	2020–21	Bundesliga	23	0	3	0	—		26	0	^[14]
	2021–22	2. Bundesliga	27	0	0	0	—		27	0	^[14]
	2022–23	Bundesliga	26	1	1	0	—		27	1	^[14]
	2023–24	Bundesliga	20	0	1	0	—		21	0	^[14]
	Total		110	1	6	0	2	0	118	1	—
Career total			425	25	10	1	2	0	437	26	—

^ Appearances in the Bundesliga relegation play-offs

References

^ "Christian Groß". SV Werder Bremen. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
^ "Groß, Christian" (in German). kicker.de. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
^ "Christian Groß". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
^ Michael Meyer (11 July 2011). "Schütze mit Stirnband" (in German). tagesspiegel.de. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
^ "Groß verstärkt Werders U23" (in German). deichstube.de. 18 April 2018. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
^ Jean-Julien Beer (29 July 2019). "Sonderlob für den Lückenfüller" (in German). weser-kurier.de. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
^ "Osako eröffnet und Pizarro beschließt das Schützenfest" (in German). kicker.de. 10 August 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
^ Daniel Cottäus, Carsten Sander (25 November 2019). "Zukunft geregelt: Werder Bremen plant sogar langfristig mit Christian Groß" (in German). kreiszeitung.de. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
^ Christoph Bähr (14 July 2020). "Groß bleibt im Bundesliga-Kader" (in German). weser-kurier.de. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
^ Daniel Cottäus (20 May 2022). "Christian Groß bleibt bei Werder Bremen – und will zurück in die Bundesliga" (in German). kreiszeitung.de. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
^ "Bundesliga-Debüt mit 30: Bremer Groß beendet Karriere" (in German). sueddeutsche.de. 4 March 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
^ Fiona John (18 May 2014). "Abschied Christian Groß: Ein gutes Herz und ein kühler Kopf" (in German). werder.de. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
^ "Groß über Leverkusen-Wechsel: "Die Fußballwelt ist groß"" (in German). kicker.de. 14 May 2025. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q "Christian Groß » Club matches". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 24 December 2020.