World Cup exit, relegation, disembarkation
What will happen to Marc-André ter Stegen?
May 27, 2026 – 7:01 p.mReading time: 3 minutes
The goalkeeper has had a year full of disappointments and health setbacks. He doesn’t have a future at FC Barcelona. And in the national team?
One cannot say that Marc-André ter Stegen was unlucky on the football field last season.
The former Gladbach player first had to endure the undignified exclusion from FC Barcelona after recovering from a lengthy patellar tendon rupture. Then he injured himself again, this time to his back, and was out for the entire first half of the season.
- Bundesliga: DFB goalkeeper is officially farewelled – where is he moving to?
- Women’s football: World footballer leaves FC Barcelona
In order to save his World Cup dream, he moved to basement team FC Girona in the winter due to the lack of prospects in Barcelona, where new signing Joan Garcia was now the clear number one. Only to injure himself so badly again after just two appearances – this time it was his thigh – that not only did his season end at the end of January, but also his dream of the World Cup, in which he was supposed to go into as number one for the first time.
As an “encore” to a year to forget, Girona also missed relegation on the last matchday of the season without the help of ter Stegen, so the Mönchengladbach native now has his first relegation on his resume.
On Tuesday, ter Stegen said goodbye to the Girona supporters with heartfelt words via Instagram, writing: “Girona, thank you very much for these months. Even if my spell on the field was much shorter than we all would have liked, with only two games after my arrival in January and because I had to stay out for the rest of the season after that, I am very grateful for the way you have welcomed me from day one.”
Ter Stegen’s uncertain future – at Barça and the DFB
Ter Stegen didn’t say a word about his future. After the botched loan to Girona, he returns to Barcelona. He is under contract there until 2028, but knows that the club and coach Hansi Flick no longer have plans for him. How and where things will continue for the 34-year-old is anyone’s guess.
Embed
