Florian Wirtz

Born in Pulheim near Cologne, Florian Wirtz developed in 1. FC Köln's youth academy before moving across the Rhine to Bayer Leverkusen in January 2020. He made his senior Bundesliga debut in May 2020 at age 17, quickly establishing himself as one of Germany's most creative young talents. Despite suffering an ACL tear in 2022, he returned with heightened vision, passing precision, and composure under manager Xabi Alonso. In the 2023-24 season, Wirtz orchestrated one of the most remarkable campaigns in European football history. Leverkusen captured their first-ever Bundesliga title without losing a single league match, added the DFB-Pokal, and reached the UEFA Europa League final. Wirtz contributed 18 goals and 20 assists in all competitions, netting a hat-trick in the title-clinching 5-0 win over Werder Bremen and winning the Bundesliga Player of the Season. For Germany, he scored the opening goal of Euro 2024 in a 5-1 win over Scotland and netted a dramatic 89th-minute quarter-final equalizer against Spain.