Manuel Neuer, the legendary Germany goalkeeper for Germany, has announced his retirement from international football, bringing the curtains down to his illustrious career.
Neuer became the fourth German player this summer to hang up boots on international duty, following Ilkay Gundogan, Toni Kroos, and Thomas Muller.
Manuel Neuer’s retirement marks the end of an era
Neuer represented Germany for 15 years on the international stage. He made his debut for the German national side in 2009 and quickly became the first-choice goalkeeper.
The goal-keeper made 124 appearances for Germany and holds the record of most caps by a goalkeeper for the nation. He is also the goalkeeper with most appearances in the FIFA World Cup (2019) and Europa Championships (20).
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Neuer has the 5th-highest number of appearances for Germany after Lothar Matthaus (150), Miroslav Klose (137), Thomas Muller (131) and Lukas Podolski (130). He also became the 3rd-oldest German player to play for the national side at 38 years, 100 days. He attained this feat at the 2024 European Championship match versus Spain.
The Sweeper-Keeper featured Germany to the 2024 FIFA World Cup final victory over Argentina in Brazil.
Unique Records of Manuel Neuer
- The only goalkeeper in history to have 48 consecutive games without defeat, the longest unbeaten run for any goalkeeper
- In football history, he is the only goalkeeper to win a European treble twice. Only 13 players so far have had the esteemed privilege to win two trebles to their name
- The only keeper in history to win four consecutive IFFHS World’s Best Man Goalkeeper awards
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Achievements of Manuel Neuer
- Named the best goalkeeper of the decade from 2011 to 2020 by IFFHS
- Won Best European Goalkeeper a record five times
- Joint-most winner of the IFFHS World’s Best Man Goalkeeper award, alongside the likes of legends Iker Casillas and Gianluigi Buffon
- Won Golden-Glove award in 2014 FIFA World Cup for keeping the most clean sheets at the tournament.
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Manuel Neuer will go down in the history of football as one of the best goalkeepers of all time. His goalkeeping style of going out of the penalty area, almost acting as an extended defence, transformed the art of goalkeeping and landed him the tag of “sweeper-keeper”.
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Although he has retired from international football, fans will be able to watch the German in action in the colours of Bayern Munich where he is contracted till 2025.
