“The best goalkeeper in Germany”
Club boss calls for Neuer’s comeback to the World Cup
November 26, 2025 – 8:54 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
Manuel Neuer has no longer played a role in the national team since the end of the 2024 European Championship. If Max Eberl has his way, this will end next summer.
Manuel Neuer is playing at a consistently high level again at FC Bayern – and is now receiving prominent support for a possible return to the DFB team. Bavaria’s sports director Max Eberl supported Neuer in “Sport Bild”.
“He is the best goalkeeper in Germany. We are incredibly happy that we have extended his contract with him and that he is healthy. The holidays help him when there are international breaks. But: he is really on fire.”
Neuer resigned from the national team after the 2024 European Championship. Since then, Marc-André ter Stegen has been considered the new number one. But the Barça keeper was initially sidelined with a knee injury and later had to undergo another operation due to back problems. Although he has now returned to team training, he has not played a role at his club recently. Hoffenheim’s Oliver Baumann was most recently in goal in the DFB team.
National coach Julian Nagelsmann had given Ter Stegen clear conditions regarding the 2026 World Cup: “It is important that he plays. Whether that is at a top European club or not is not the all-important thing.” And further: “Of course it would be good that he also plays reasonably well.”
There is also the question of whether Neuer will extend his contract with FC Bayern again. The current working paper runs until 2026. “Manu will be 40 years old in March, we’ll have discussions about his future afterwards,” explained Eberl: “We don’t need to talk about prospects with him, it’s about a feeling. And at the moment he feels totally comfortable and we have a great feeling about him. The question is also: What does he think when he has played the 2026 World Cup and become world champion?”