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?

1

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.

2

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.

3

Bastian Schweinsteiger

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

4

Toni Kroos

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

5

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.

6

Mesut Özil

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

7

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.

8

Sami Khedira

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

9

Mario Götze

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

10

Bernd Schuster

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