Looking back on Manuel Neuer's international career following his retirement from international football.
Header Image: via The New York Times/Martin Meissner/Associated Press
Summarising a career as stellar as Manuel Neuer’s almost feels like writing an obituary for one of the great figures of history, science, or politics.
In some ways, it is, such is the magnitude of his effect on goalkeeping in the twentieth century. This week, the German stalwart has passed the torch to Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, and the generations that will follow him, to take over the Die Mannschaft number one role.
Now 38, the Bayern Munich goalkeeper has called time on his international career following a difficult few years with the German national team.
Germany’s defeat against Spain in the Quarter-Final of EURO 2024 marked what was to be Neuer’s 124th and final cap for the national team. The boy from Gelsenkirchen (does that qualify as a ‘football cliche’?) had won nearly all there is to win by the time of the announcement earlier this week, though the EUROs ultimately proved elusive. Alas, there was to be no fairytale goodbye for Neuer in Stuttgart.
Nonetheless, his trophy list is not one to be sneered at:
- A World Cup trophy (and golden glove)
- EURO 2012 Team of the Tournament
- World Cup All Star team, 2010, 2014
- EURO U21 winner 2009
Neuer’s international career began in difficult circumstances. His official debut came in a match in Dubai against the United Arab Emirates, which Germany won 7-2 in June 2009. His home debut, however, would have to wait until November that year, when Neuer made his debut at his club stadium the Arena AufSchalke.
It was a match that Germany drew 2-2 with the Ivory Coast, but recent events overshadowed the fixture. Robert Enke had taken his own life only a week earlier.
The BBC’s archive report notes that ‘Before the game, both World Cup-bound teams paid respect to Enke, who killed himself last week after battling depression for years. Germany captain Michael Ballack, who could not play because of a knee injury, placed a No. 1 jersey with Enke's name on the bench of Germany's team.
'There was a minute of silence and both teams played with black armbands. A film featuring highlights from Enke's life was shown on the stadium's video screen before the kickoff, accompanied by the song 'You'll never walk alone. During the presentation, Ivory Coast players wore T-shirts with the picture of Enke.'
Neuer crossed the white line at half time for his first national outing in front of a majority-German crowd, and was at fault for Emmanuel Eboue’s equalising goal. Manager Joachim Löw defended his goalkeeper at full time, calling the error ‘unlucky’. That was one goalkeeper mistake which circumstances really forced into perspective.
The following May, Löw announced Neuer as Germany’s number one for the World Cup in South Africa. He only conceded a single goal during the group stage, and should have conceded one more against England in the Round of 16. No further description of that is necessary. Hans-Jorg Butt replaced Neuer for the third place playoff match.
Neuer doubled his big tournament assist record at EURO 2012. Now Bayern Munich’s number one, and fresh from a Champions League defeat to Chelsea at the Allianz Arena, the giant of a German was pushing for silverware to back up his rapidly growing reputation.
Indeed, Neuer knew the importance of a good domestic run into a tournament. Speaking ahead of the 2012 Champions League final defeat, he said: ‘I was angry in 2010 when [Bayern] lost the Madrid final to Inter Milan,’ at the time still with Schalke 04.
‘The atmosphere in the national team was not good at the beginning of the 2010 World Cup but if you have eight players who join the team after winning the Champions League then that gives every team member a push.’
‘Revenge a dish best served cold for Bayern's Neuer’ read UEFA’s Super Cup Final preview interview with the German goalkeeper a year later.
Neuer would have to wait half a decade for that first - and only - major international team honour. Germany were unstoppable in Brazil in 2014, and Neuer cemented his place as the world’s best goalkeeper. His sweeper-keeper style was taking the globe by storm.
The increasingly statistic-hungry headlines published one seemingly stunning number: Germany’s number one finished the tournament with 244 completed passes, more than Lionel Messi (242), Wesley Sneijder (242), and Thomas Müller (221).
When the final whistle blew in Rio following Germany’s 1-0 victory over Argentina in the final, ‘suddenly I got flashbacks to all these moments that had led me there’, Neuer explained, in a beautifully written piece with The Players’ Tribune.
You would have been labelled a serious pessimist had you predicted, following the 2014 final, that Manuel Neuer would not win another trophy with the German national team. But football works in funny ways. A semi-final defeat to France at EURO 2016 would be the highest finish Germany would achieve in a major international tournament since their 2014 victory to this day. Group stage exits at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups were definitely not part of the plan.
In Qatar, Neuer overtook Claudio Taffarel and Sepp Maier as the goalkeeper with the most appearances for the German national team in what was his 19th and final world cup game. Germany beat Costa Rica 4-2, but a surprise Japanese victory over Spain sent them home ignominiously at the group stage.
A broken leg in a skiing accident in December 2022 could have ended Neuer’s international career there and then. Match fitness perhaps returned faster than expected. Neuer was back in the Bayern Munich starting line up only ten months later.
‘At first when I broke my leg, I was thinking that it wasn’t such a big deal. The helicopter would pick me up, the doctors would do their thing and I would be back on the pitch. But when I got to the hospital, it became very clear that this was not just a normal fracture. My future as a footballer was in doubt.” he admitted, in the aforementioned The Players’ Tribune piece.
‘The hardest part was the worrying. One moment you are out skiing, the next you are staring into a hospital wall, thinking that this passion that has been part of your identity all your life can be taken away from you.
‘I was scared. I think anyone would be.’
Though the German goalkeeper’s recovery from the leg break was better than expected, luck wasn’t falling Neuer’s way.
A torn muscle fibre across the Christmas period in 2023 kept him from returning to Germany’s starting lineup until March 2024. Upon regaining fitness a second time, he’d feature in friendlies against Ukraine and Greece - his only two appearances for the national team ahead of EURO 2024 in 18 months.
A certain Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, who, already 32, has to be the best national team number two in the modern history of international football, was not enamoured by Neuer’s status-quo return to the Germany starting line up ahead of the tournament.
‘It's not a pleasant situation. But the coach made the decision and I accept it, even if I don't agree with him’, the Barcelona goalkeeper said. Despite his frustration, Ter Stegen dispelled rumours about retirement from international duty at the time.
That proved to be the right call.
But the way Neuer strolled back into the starting eleven ahead of Neuer tells us a thing or two about a goalkeeper of Neuer’s stature. He was the everpresent, almost omnipotent figure who perhaps surpassed droppable status for the German national team. It’s a reputation that has been greatly deserved on the balance of things, given his innovative and perpetually matchwinning presence in the Bundesliga.
Even where rough spells overshadowed Neuer’s incredible track record in recent years, the German has come back fighting - and winning. But it's not just Neuer's official record that should be noted. The German went beyond just leading a great team to era-defining victories. In goalkeeping, he arguably popularised the risk-taking, brazen ball-playing - and ball-demanding - ability of the modern goalkeeper.
Image should never be understated when talking about influence. Neuer redefined what it meant for goalkeepers to be a bit crazy on the world stage, and did it in style - with success.
The German national team still has far to go in rebuilding to its historical preeminence. Yet, over the past decade, successive managers have believed that a Germany team with Neuer in it was much more likely to succeed than those without. He was the change that wasn’t worth making.
Die mannschaft announced Neuer’s retirement on social media with a Adidas photoshoot that reflected the respected, laid-back and effective style of goalkeeping that Neuer brought to the game. He sat, dressed smart-casually, in front of a background drape surrounded by relics of a career that ushered in a new era of goalkeeping, and brought it to the world on the international stage.
His farewell, in his own words, below:
“But as far as the national team goes, I will be watching my former teammates as one more fan. I appreciate all of you guys, for the work we have put in together, for the memories we have shared, for all the laughs and the jokes.
I’ll miss you.
Keep building on what we started.
Don’t lose that feeling.
Thank you for everything.
Your keeper,
— Manu
With thanks to The Players’ Tribune for a selection of quotes from this article.
