Pascal Groß was born on 15 June 1991 in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He came through the youth academy of 1899 Hoffenheim and spent his early career in the lower rungs of German football at clubs including TSV Nördlingen and Ingolstadt 04, where he developed into a reliable midfield option before earning a 2017 move to Brighton & Hove Albion.
At Brighton he became one of the most influential players in the club's transformation from Championship contenders to an established Premier League side and, under Roberto De Zerbi, into a European competitor. Across multiple seasons he was integral to Brighton's midfield, contributing assists, goals and creative energy that made him a fans' favourite and a key figure in successive managers' plans.
He was part of Brighton's memorable 2022-23 season when they finished sixth in the Premier League and qualified for the UEFA Europa League. Under De Zerbi he played as a versatile midfield operator capable of playing as an eight, a ten or even a wide option, making him one of the most tactically flexible players in the Premier League.
For Germany he debuted in 2023 at the age of thirty-one — an unusually late senior debut reflecting both the depth of German midfield competition in earlier years and the recognition of his consistently excellent Premier League form. He was part of the squad for the 2024 home UEFA European Championship and provided senior experience in midfield rotation.
Standing 1.79 m, Groß is a right-footed versatile midfielder whose technical quality, positional intelligence and ability to play in multiple midfield roles — from deep-lying playmaker to advanced creator — make him one of the Premier League's most complete midfield operators of the late 2010s and early 2020s. His late-arriving international career drew comparisons with similar cases of Premier League-excellent Germans being recognised belatedly.