Who is the best midfielder in Germany national team history?

Germany's midfield has been the engine of some of football's greatest international sides — from orchestrators to destroyers to all-around engines. Who is the best of them all?

Franz Beckenbauer

The Kaiser — Germany's greatest ever player who invented the attacking libero role and won the 1974 World Cup as captain and 1990 World Cup as manager.

1/10

Michael Ballack

Germany's dominant and powerful captain who led the nation to three major finals and was among the world's best midfielders for a decade.

2/10

Bastian Schweinsteiger

Germany's 2014 World Cup-winning captain whose bloodied-but-unbowed final performance became one of the tournament's iconic images.

3/10

Toni Kroos

Germany's technically supreme midfielder who won the 2014 World Cup and is considered one of the greatest passers in football history.

4/10

Wolfgang Overath

Germany's elegant left-footed playmaker of the 1960s and 70s who was the creative force in the 1974 World Cup-winning team.

5/10

Mesut Özil

Germany's supremely gifted creative midfielder who delivered a record 17 World Cup assists and scored the winner in the 2014 final.

6/10

Andreas Möller

Germany's composed and skilful playmaker who was the hero of Euro 96 and was one of the most technically gifted German players of his era.

7/10

Sami Khedira

Germany's combative and athletic box-to-box midfielder who was a key figure in the 2014 World Cup-winning campaign.

8/10

Mario Götze

Germany's gifted attacking midfielder who scored the winning goal in extra time of the 2014 World Cup final against Argentina.

9/10

Bernd Schuster

Germany's supremely talented midfielder of the 1980s who represented Germany at the 1980 European Championship before his international exile.

10/10