In his relatively short career to this point, Florian Wirtz has quickly established himself as a key figure in Germany’s younger generation and one of the national team’s most influential creative players.
He grew up in Pulheim, a 50,000-person Rheinland town located 20 kilometers from Cologne, Germany. A ball was always at his feet. There were no video games or televisions at home, so he had to watch matches at his friends’ houses.
At the age of six, the attacking midfielder joined his local club, SV Grun-Weiss Brauweiler, where his father, Hans, served as his first coach. Wirtz may have felt he was harsher on him than others, but this was beneficial in his early development.
It wasn’t long before Bundesliga clubs began bringing him in to train. Koln won the race to recruit him to their academy over Bayer Leverkusen. The German international drew attention with his performances. Wirtz spent 10 years at Koln before joining Bayer Leverkusen in 2020.
On the surface, it seemed like a natural progression to a larger club with a successful track record of developing young players. After a few months, the playmaker was in the first-team picture. In May 2020, he made his Bundesliga debut at the age of 17 years and 15 days, and 19 days later, he scored against Bayern Munich, becoming the club’s youngest Bundesliga goalscorer.
Wirtz received his first senior call-up in March 2021, under Joachim Löw. He made his debut for Germany on September 2, 2021, in a 2-0 FIFA World Cup qualifying win over Liechtenstein, becoming one of the country’s youngest players ever.
Wirtz, who had established himself as one of Europe’s most promising young players with Bayer Leverkusen, suffered a serious ACL injury in March. The injury kept him out of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, which many hoped would be his global breakthrough.
Euro 2024 was Wirtz’s first major senior tournament.He made an impressive debut by scoring the tournament’s first goal just 10 minutes into Germany’s 5-1 victory over Scotland, making him Germany’s youngest-ever European Championship scorer.
He was one of Germany’s standout players throughout the competition, scoring a dramatic late equalizer against Spain in the quarterfinals to force extra time. Despite his heroics, Spain scored again, defeating the hosts 2-1 in extra time. Following Euro 2024, Wirtz consolidated his position as the German attack’s leader.
He scored and assisted in the UEFA Nations League, helping Germany advance to the competition’s final stages despite failing to win the trophy. Following his £116 million move to Premier League champions Liverpool in July 2025, Wirtz has found it difficult to live up to the hype.
In 49 appearances for Liverpool in all competitions in 2025/26, he scored seven goals and assisted eight times. Wirtz had to wait until late December to celebrate his first Liverpool goal, which proved to be the game winner against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Anfield.
By the 2026 World Cup, Wirtz had established himself as one of Julian Nagelsmann’s first-choice players.He helped Germany qualify with several assists and maintained his strong form throughout the tournament, serving as the creative link between midfield and attack.
Germany won their group but were unexpectedly eliminated on penalties by Paraguay in the Round of 32, despite Wirtz being one of their standout players. His greatest assets are his exceptional vision and passing, close control in confined spaces, and intelligent movement between the lines.
