How a player's penis became the Bundesliga’s biggest talking point

Robin Bairner

• Updated: 23 Feb 2026 07:15 CST
• 3 min read

Nieuws

Max Kruse’s penis became the unlikely source of Bundesliga headlines this weekend, overshadowing another brilliant Harry Kane performance for Bayern Munich to take the spotlight.

While the source of the saga began with Kruse criticising new Eintracht Frankfurt coach Albert Riera on a podcast, things really kicked off when Bild ran a story with the headline “Eintracht attack Kruse with penis video” on Saturday.

Kruse, who at 37 and playing with fifth-tier side Tus Dassendorf, probably didn’t expect to find himself in the spotlight any longer, suddenly became a front and centre attraction thanks to his scathing assessment of Reira.

“I get the feeling he comes up with something new every week to really stand out. It’s all just a bit of a show,” he told his Flatterball podcast, which he creates with fellow ex-pro Martin Harnik.

Kruse’s history of controversy

Standing out, of course, is something that Kruse has rarely had a problem with himself. Over the course of a 15-year career at the top level, he’s been involved in numerous scandals and has rarely shirked the opportunity to speak his mind.

Prior to Euro 2016, for instance, he was dropped by Germany head coach Joachim Low for “repeatedly unprofessional behaviour”. Building up to the incident, Kruse left €75,000 of poker winnings in the back of a taxi and had been publicly admonished for his Nutella addiction.

Given a third chance to prove himself by Low, though, Kruse eventually snapped. After a Bild reporter had taken some images of him at a nightclub, he admitted: “I got annoyed at some point and then perhaps reacted somewhat inappropriately.”

Following his retirement, he appeared on German TV’s version of Big Brother, and admitted he had a “running battle” with haemorrhoids that he refused to be treated because he didn’t want a doctor to “fumble around” his rear end.

Eintracht Frankfurt’s social media storm

Now, though, his penis is the talk of the Bundesliga, as German football expert Ronan Murphy explains:

“This probably wouldn't have been a story. Ex-players turn pundits criticise manager, manager hits back with the classic 'who?' response, everybody moves on with their lives and gets on with their jobs.

“Eintracht Frankfurt head coach Albert Riera would have brushed off the criticism of his overly-confident, somewhat smug press conferences, and former Bundesliga players Max Kruse and Martin Harnik would have churned out more episodes of their podcast on the game they used to play.

“But then Eintracht Frankfurt's social media admin weighed in, highlighting how they didn't want future press conferences to be around questions from someone whose appendage had circulated the internet.

“Of course, Bild, Germany's biggest newspaper and a tabloid on a par with the Sun, had a field day with the tweet, in an article headlined 'Eintracht attackiert Kruse mit Penis-Video!' Google Translate isn't even needed on this occasion. We all know what it means.

“Kruse has never kept his private life public, and his privates were made public in 2016 when a video he recorded for his then-girlfriend was leaked to the press. Something that big doesn't go down overnight.

“Riera might claim he didn't know who footballer-turned-poker player-turned-podcaster Kruse was, but the Eintracht admin knew about him and all his bits. Now it's back in everyone's faces. And I'm not sure Kruse, or anyone else, wants it out there.”