If you were born in the 90s and never acknowledged that Arsene Wenger named Arsenal, you would be lying. Or even for a time, assuming Roy Keane and Robbie Keane are brothers and felt your life was a lie after discovering the actual truth, then you’re included in the purest breed of football conspiracy theorists. One of the far-fetched theories is whether Toni Kroos is Mexican.
Yes, you read it right, this is a thing. A recent picture of Toni Kroos went viral after eagle-eyed fans spotted a Mexican flag on the Real Madrid star’s iPad. Just shielded by his iPhone, the red stripe and an eagle’s wing are visible and those familiar with flags need no more hints that it was a Mexican flag.
It didn’t take long for the snap to go viral and, since then, everyone’s been asking the same question. What is the relationship between Toni Kroos and Mexico?
Well, by birth, there aren’t any. His father, Roland, is a German who was a wrestler in his early life, but sorry to rain on your parade, he was not a Luchador. Roland coached the Hansa Rostock youth team after an injury-forced retirement from the ring.
Some social media users tried to establish a connection by claiming the former Bayern Munich striker’s mother to be of Mexican lineage but were abruptly fact-checked by community notes.
Is the name Birgit Kammer even remotely Mexican? Don’t think so. She was a revered badminton player and won multiple national-level titles. Even Toni Kroos’ wife is German with no traces of the Aztec country.
Nevertheless, the camera had previously captured Kroos’ Mexican flag. During an episode of his podcast, ‘Einfach mal Luppen’, which he co-hosts with his brother, Felix, the Mexican sticker was first noticed on his iPad. His grandfather was the guest in the show and sadly for the conspiracy theorists, he also has a connection to the Latino land.
While Kroos never commented on his reasoning for keeping a Mexican flag attached to his tech there might be some potential reasons.
The first and most obvious explanation could be his relationship with Javier Hernandez. The former Manchester United striker played alongside Kroos during the 2014-15 season. The comradery between the pair could be a possible reason.
‘I don’t have very detailed information but Chicharito used to play for Madrid, and he’s a great player who is difficult to mark,’ said Kroos during an interview before Germany‘s 2018 World Cup match against Mexico. The match didn’t go according to plan for Kroos as Germany was on the receiving end of a 1-0 loss.
While his relationship with Chicharito might be rosey, ‘The Sniper’ came under Mexicans’ crosshairs when he tweeted in 2020. After a fan inquired about where to watch his documentary from Mexico, he replied, ‘I dont think there is Amazon prime in mexico.’
While his comments might not have been malicious, Mexican fans on social media took exception to it, and thoroughly reminded the German of his loss at the Luzhniki Stadium.
So one can assume that sticking a Mexican flag to his iPad might be a Latino crowd-pleasing approach by Kroos. Nonetheless, the overall message from his sticker display only points to the deep-seated respect the World Cup winner has for the North American country.