Thomas Kraft (born 22 July 1988) is a German former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
Born in Kirchen, West Germany, Kraft began playing in a goalkeeper position when he was eight years old. Kraft then started out at Sportfreunde Daaden, VfB Wissen and SG Betzdorf before joining Bayern Munich in 2004. He then signed his first professional contract with the club at age seventeen, keeping him until 2008.
Kraft was promoted to the Bayern's reserve team in 2006. However, he spent two years, playing for the club's U19 team as their first choice goalkeeper. In January 2008, Kraft was promoted to the Bayern Munich's first team. He then was included six times as unused substitute into the club's first team throughout 2007–08 season.
After two years being promoted to the Bayern's reserve team, Kraft finally played in their first game in the newly formed 3. Liga on 27 July 2008 against Union Berlin, as the club's reserve team won 2–1 in the opening goal of the season. He then become Bayern's reserve team first choice goalkeeper. Kraft, along with teammates Holger Badstuber and Thomas Müller, having been an unused substitute in a number of first-team matches in the 2008–09 season. However, during a 2–0 win against Carl Zeiss Jena on 1 March 2009, he suffered a broken jaw and a concussion that saw him substituted in the 19th minute. After the match, it was announced that Kraft was announced for eight weeks. But he quickly recovered and returned to the starting line–up against SpVgg Unterhaching on 1 April 2009, in a 2–1 loss. At the end of the 2008–09 season, Kraft went on to make twenty–four appearances in all competitions. At some point at his Bayern Munich's career, he signed a contract with the club, keeping him until 2011.
Ahead of the 2009–10 season, Kraft was promoted to the first team, with Bayern Munich's reserve team Manager Mehmet Scholl would not be using him. However, he suffered a hamstring injury that kept him out for a week. Despite his inclusion in the first team, Kraft continued to be the club's reserve team first choice goalkeeper. Once again, he was an unused substitute in a number of first-team matches in the 2009–10 season. At the end of the 2009–10 season, Kraft went on to make twenty–seven appearances in all competitions.
From 2008 to 2010, Kraft was third-choice goalkeeper for the senior team, behind Hans-Jörg Butt and Michael Rensing. Following Rensing's release in 2010, he was promoted to second choice, and he made his first-team debut at the beginning of that season, in the 2010 DFL-Supercup. After the match, Bayern Munich described his debut as "great" on their website.
The next two months saw Kraft playing for the club's reserve teams, while appearing in the first team as an unused substitute at the same time. On 23 November 2010, he made his debut Champions League match in Rome against Roma, starting the whole game and had a good start and made some outstanding saves, as the club lost 3–2. His next appearance for Bayern Munich came on 8 December 2011 against Basel in the UEFA Champions League match and kept a clean sheet, winning 1–0. During the 2010–11 winter break, Bayern coach Louis van Gaal announced that Kraft would replace Hans-Jörg Butt as Bayern's first-choice 'keeper for the second half of the season. Kraft made his Bundesliga debut as Bayern Munich's first-choice keeper against VfL Wolfsburg on 15 January 2011 and set up the club's only goal of the game, in a 1–1 draw. He then started in the next fifteen matches for Bayern Munich. During a match against Mainz 05 on 19 February 2011, Kraft suffered a bruised skull when he collided with Petar Slišković and was substituted in the 46th minute, as the club won 3–1. Kraft returned to the starting line–up and produced top performance with several impressive saves to help FC Bayern Munich to a 1–0 win on 23 February 2011 in a round of 16 Champions League clash against Inter Milan. In the return leg, however, he was unable to help the club reach the next round after losing 3–2 through away goal. However, the decision to replace Butt with Kraft earned the displeasure of the Bayern board, and contributed to Van Gaal losing his job: after an error by Kraft allowed Christian Eigler to score the equaliser in a 1–1 draw with Nürnberg. Van Gaal – who was already due to leave – was sacked early, and temporarily replaced by his assistant Andries Jonker. Following this, Jonker reinstated Butt at Kraft's expense in his first game in charge, as well as, his own injury concern. He made 19 appearances for Bayern's first team at the end of the 2010–11 season.
It was announced on 3 May 2011 that Kraft would leave the club at the end of the 2010–11 season, ending his seven years association with them. He previously hinted of his departure at FC Bayern Munich. The following week, 2. Bundesliga champions Hertha BSC announced that they had signed a four-year deal with Kraft on a free transfer and will join the club on 1 July 2011.
Ahead of the 2011–12 season, he found himself competing with Maikel Aerts and Sascha Burchert over Hertha BSC's first choice goalkeeper role. However, he suffered ankle injury that saw him miss the DFB-Pokal's first round match against ZFC Meuselwitz. But Kraft was able return from injury and made his debut for the club in the opening game of the season against Nürnberg, as they lost 1–0. Since making his debut for Hertha BSC, he quickly became a first choice goalkeeper for the club, beating out Aerts and Burchert. On 16 October 2011, Kraft returned for the first time with Hertha back to his old club Bayern Munich which turned out to be a quite bitter reunion for Kraft; the Berlin club lost 0–4. Prior to the game, Kraft and two other members of Hertha (Christian Lell and Andreas Ottl) were honored with a bouquet of flowers by the Bayern staff and the fans were chanting pro Kraft throughout the game. Two weeks later against Wolfsburg on 29 October 2011, however, he suffered a concussion following a collision with Mario Mandžukić and was substituted in the 38th minute, as the club won 3–2. After the match, Kraft was given all clear and returned to the starting line–up against Borussia Mönchengladbach on 5 November 2011, as Hertha BSC lost 2–1. Having regained his place as the club's first choice goalkeeper, Hertha BSC's results did not go in their favour and found themselves in a relegation zone, resulting in them finishing sixteenth place in the league. He played in both legs of the relegation play–offs against Fortuna Düsseldorf, as the club lost 4–2 on aggregate, resulting in them relegated. Following Hertha BSC's relegation, Kraft, along with his four teammates, were involved in an incident with referee Wolfgang Stark, resulting in an investigation by the German Football Association. Although the players and Kraft, himself, apologised for their actions, the German Football Association (DFB) handed down suspensions and gave him a five match suspension. At the end of the 2011–12 season, he went on to make thirty–eight appearances in all competitions.
Ahead of the 2012–13 season, Kraft made it clear that he wanted to stay at Hertha BSC, even if the club were relegated to 2. Bundesliga. Kraft stated his aim was to help Hertha BSC get promoted back to Bundesliga. Having served a five match suspension, he returned to the starting line–up against VfR Aalen on 16 September 2012 and kept a clean sheet, as the club won 2–0,his first clean sheet for the club. Since returning to the starting line–up, Kraft regained his place as Hertha BSC's first choice goalkeeper for the club and contributed into helping them reach the top of the table. This lasted until he missed one match for Hertha BSC against MSV Duisburg on 10 March 2013, due to illness. Kraft returned to the starting line–up against 1860 Munich on 16 March 2013 and kept a clean, as the club drew 0–0. This was followed up by keeping two more clean sheets against VfL Bochum and Eintracht Braunschweig. He then helped Hertha BSC achieve direct promotion to the top-flight Bundesliga for the 2013–14 season by beating SV Sandhausen 1–0 on 21 April 2013. At the end of the 2012–13 season, Kraft went on to make twenty–eight appearances in all competitions. For his performance, he was awarded "The White Vest".