He sued his former club
Scandal goalkeeper signs with traditional club
January 28, 2026 – 2:12 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Manuel Riemann was an institution in Bochum for a long time. But then there was a scandal. Now the goalkeeper has found a new club.
Alemannia Aachen announced the signing of Manuel Riemann on Tuesday. According to the club’s announcement, the 37-year-old goalkeeper has already completed the medical check and is expected to close the gap in the second half of the season that Jan Olschowsky opened when he left. Olschowsky’s loan had previously been canceled by his parent club Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Rachid Azzouzi, managing director of the third division club’s sports department, said that Riemann “will strengthen the team both athletically and with his personality”. However, it is precisely this that has caused problems for Riemann in the past.
A look back: After the last game of regular league play in the 2023/2024 Bundesliga season, Riemann suddenly found himself in the headlines. Following the 1:4 defeat against Werder Bremen, which resulted in relegation Bochum sealed, VfL announced on its homepage that the veteran would not be in the squad for both playoff games against Fortuna Düsseldorf. The club cited “irreconcilable different opinions on team content issues” as the reason.
According to media reports, Riemann is said to have raged against his own teammates during the game in Bremen. This is one of the reasons why the goalkeeper was highly controversial within the team. As Sport1 reported at the time, Riemann “lacked any support within the team.”
After relegation, he was still under contract in Bochum, but VfL initially did not allow him to take part in professional training. Riemann then sued the club. However, before the trial, an out-of-court agreement was reached between the club and the player. Riemann was allowed to take part in training again, but moved to SC Paderborn the following winter. He stayed with Ostwestfalen until the summer of 2025. Since then he has been without a club. Now he has a new job Aachen found.
“I’m really looking forward to playing for Alemannia from now on,” said Riemann. “The club stands for tradition and passion. I can hardly wait to get to know my teammates and work with them on a successful second half of the season.”
Aachen is currently in 15th place in the 3rd league and is fighting against relegation. Last weekend, coach Mersad Selimbegović’s team won 3-2 against the second representative of TSG Hoffenheim.
