Kramer made his full international debut for the Germany national team on 13 May 2014, and later that year was part of the German squad which won the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

[5] Kramer made his professional debut on 18 July 2011, coming on as a second-half substitute for Andreas Johansson in a 2–0 defeat of Bochum to Fortuna Düsseldorf.

[10] He made his Bundesliga debut on 9 August 2013, starting in midfield for Gladbach in a 3–1 loss to defending champions Bayern Munich.

[12] Kramer scored Borussia Mönchengladbach's third goal of a 3–1 victory over Mainz 05 on 3 May 2014, securing the club a place in the UEFA Europa League for the following season.

[14] Kramer returned to Gladbach following his exploits in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, making his season debut on 24 August 2014, coming off the bench and scoring his side's last-minute equalizer in a 1−1 draw with VfB Stuttgart.

[19] Shortly before the end of his first Bundesliga season, Kramer was first invited on 8 May,2014 to the Germany senior team, when he was nominated as part of a so-called "perspective squad" for the preparation match for the 2014 World Cup in the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg against Poland, as many players could not join because they still had to play for their clubs.

[24] The following day, Kramer was included by Joachim Löw in Germany's final 23-man squad for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

[25] Kramer made his first appearance of the tournament in Germany's round of 16 match against Algeria as a 109th-minute substitute for Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Kramer, however, was forced to leave the game in the first half after taking a hit to the head, and André Schürrle came on to replace him.