It has been clear since the end of 2021 that Matthias Ginter will not extend his contract with Borussia Mönchengladbach and will leave the club on a free transfer in the summer. Since then, clubs like Inter Milan and Bayern Munich have been circulating as the national player’s most promising buyers. But he didn’t go for the really big number, but for his homeland. Ginter moves to SC Freiburg.
“No suspicion of mercenary”
A decision that is very well received. When the first reports about Ginter’s decision to move to Breisgau made the rounds, the “Süddeutsche” headlined: “Unsuspicious of mercenary.” Shortly before, Gladbach fans in the game against RB Leipzig (3: 1) had a poster with the inscription “Hopefully we’ll get rid of those mercenaries among you soon“.
It is not clear whether Ginter is meant by this, but he was criticized by the supporters. As is so often the case when a player decides to leave a club with an expiring contract. Ginter made perhaps his last game for Gladbach in the derby against 1. FC Köln – there he had to be substituted and was booed by his own fans.
“He has not been guilty of anything in Gladbach for five years. (…) Anyone who returns home at the age of just 28 can’t be a mercenary“, judges the “Süddeutsche”. In fact, the decision is an extraordinary one, because soccer professionals rarely decide in the middle of their career against the chance to play for a big club in Germany or abroad, but for the opportunity to return to the place of origin of the career .
Special relationship with Streich
In 2005, at the age of eleven, Ginter switched from SC March to the Freiburg youth team and, six and a half years later, celebrated his Bundesliga debut two days after his 18th birthday. Back then, as a central midfielder, he scored the winning goal as a joker against FC Augsburg on January 21, 2012. His trainer then, as from July 1st, when his new start in Freiburg begins: Christian Streich.
“He’s an exceptional coach. It’s remarkable how he lives football, he thinks about his team and his players 24 hours a day. I have him to thank for almost everything I have achieved and am up to now“Ginter said to “Sky” once about prank.
heart for the region
Now the two of them will be reunited forever. But despite his move to Borussia Dortmund in 2014, the national player was never completely away from Breisgau. Ginter and his wife Christina have been running the “Matthias Ginter Foundation” since 2018, which helps children in the region. That’s why he kept traveling to Freiburg to kick-start the foundation’s projects and organized charity events, which also included ex-national coach Joachim Löw as a guest.
Now Ginter can take care of his foundation’s concerns directly on site, but above all his sporting future. One mustn’t forget that Ginter didn’t just choose his home club, but a successful club. Freiburg is currently fourth in the Bundesliga and would play in the Champions League next season. It’s a move that makes sense in every way.