Ed Sheeran: what did footballer Toni Kroos say about singer in Schalke dig on podcast - comment explained

Toni Kroos, a German professional footballer who plays as midfielder for Real Madrid, called out newly-promoted Bundesliga side Schalke after hearing that Ed Sheeran played a number of performances at the stadium.

This is what you need to know about what Kroos said - and how Schalke fired back on Twitter.

What did Toni Kroos say about Schalke?

Kroos made a dig at Schalke in his podcast with an Ed Sheeran based comment, after the pop superstar recently performed three gigs at Schalke’s Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen.

Sheeran, who is currently touring around the world, filled the 62,000 seater venue for all three performances.

Talking on his Einfach Mal Luppen podcast with his brother, Felix, Kroos said: “Ed Sheeran has achieved something that I have seen very rarely: that people leave happy from an event in the Schalke stadium.”

How did the football club respond?

It didn’t take long for Schalke to react to Kroos’ comments, taking to Twitter to respond.

The official account for the football club tweeted a clip of striker Simon Terodde, who scored 30 goals in 30 games last season, attempting to give a passionate postgame interview in which he spoke about the club - however he had totally lost his voice.

The interview is considered infamous and had even non-German speaking viewers in pieces.

The tweet accompanying the clip read: “At least we know how to give cool interviews after the final whistle.”

Schalke’s response refers to an interview that Kroos gaves after the Champions League final back in May, after Los Blancos beat Liverpool 1-0.

Kroos was criticised by German media when, in an interview with German TV, after being asked about Real’s defensive-minded style, he said: “You had 90 minutes to think about sensible questions. And then you ask me two sh***y questions. That’s crazy.

“It’s really bad. Really bad, really. First you ask three negative questions. You already know that you come from Germany. It’s not surprising that you get into trouble against Liverpool.

“What is that a question? We’re not playing a group game somewhere, we’re playing the Champions League final.”

Who is Toni Kroos?

Kroos is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Real Madrid. He made his senior club debut at the age of 17, in 2007, playing for Bayern Munich. When he was with Bayern, Kroos claimed two consecutive league titles, a UEFA Champions League title, two DFB-Pokal titles and was voted into the league team three times.

He joined Real Madrid in 2014 in a €25 million transfer.

Throughout his time with Real Madrid, Kroos has won 16 trophies, which includes three La Liga titles and four UEFA Champions League titles, two UEFA Super Cups, four FIFA Club World Cups and three Spanish Super Cups.

He was born in Greifswald in northeastern Germany on 4 January 1990, and is the older brother to Felix Kroos, who was also a professional football player.

Felix played for teams including Hansa Rostock, Werder Bremen, Union Berlin, and Eintracht Braunschweig. He retired from the sport in July 2021 and, later that year, was appointed the assistant coach of Union Berlin’s U-19 side.

Kroos married his wife Jessica Farber on 13 June 2015 and together they have two sons and a daughter - Leon, born 14 August 2013, Amelie, born 20 July 2016 and Fin, born 26 March 2019.