New to the “oldies” club
©IMAGO
Next milestone for Manuel Neuer: With his appearance in the game against SC Freiburg on Saturday afternoon, the FC Bayern goalkeeper became the eleventh player in the history of the Bundesliga to still be on the field at the age of 40 or over. He celebrated his big birthday on March 27th, and at 40 years and eight days old, he is currently in eleventh place, just behind Claus Reitmaier (40 years, ten days) among the oldest players in the German football upper house.
Neuer last stood between the Munich posts on March 6th, after which a torn muscle fiber in his left calf forced him to take a break. Coach Vincent Kompany confirmed before the duel with SCF that the veteran would return. “Manu is 100 percent fit,” assured Kompany. It is his 591st game for the German record champions and his 543rd in the Bundesliga.
Neuer is the sixth goalkeeper among the eleven over-40 players in the Bundesliga. The oldest among them is Ulrich Stein, who was employed by Arminia Bielefeld in 1997 at the age of 42 years, five months and 19 days. In historical comparison, this puts us in second place. The list is headed by former Schalke libero Klaus Fichtel, who set the current record in 1988 at 43 years, six months and two days.
If Neuer continues – his contract with Bayern ends in the summer – he could overtake some players next season and move up to fifth place. Then he would be standing between two former Werder icons: Claudio Pizarro (41 years, eight months, 24 days) and Mirko Votava (40 years, seven months, eleven days). He could overtake the latter in the ranking of record players in the Bundesliga this season. There are currently 546 games for Votava and 543 for Neuer.
