Manuel Neuer

Schalke 04

Neuer played for Schalke 04 II during 2003–04, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2007–08 and 2008–09. Neuer progressed through every age group at his hometown club, Schalke 04, and signed professional terms in 2005. Neuer did not make any first team appearances during the 2005–06 season. However, he was on the bench several times and won the 2005 DFL-Ligapokal as an unused substitute. He made his Bundesliga debut with Schalke when he came on as a substitute for the injured Frank Rost on matchday 2 of the 2006–07 season. The 20-year-old eventually won the starting position when Rost was surprisingly dropped for the clash against Bayern Munich. Neuer managed to secure a 2–2 draw against the defending champions. He made 27 league appearances during the 2006–07 season. Despite his young age, he was widely tipped to be a potential successor to his former idol Jens Lehmann in the future for the Germany national team. Neuer started the 2007–08 season by playing in three matches in the German League Cup. On 5 March 2008, in the first knockout round of the UEFA Champions League against Porto, he almost single-handedly kept Schalke in the game with several saves, forcing the game into penalties. He then saved penalties from Bruno Alves and Lisandro López to help Schalke advance to the quarter-finals. He was shortlisted for the 2007–08 UEFA Club Goalkeeper of the Year award; he was the youngest as well as the only Bundesliga goalkeeper on the list. He was one of only three…

Youth

After progressing through the youth teams, Neuer made his Germany under-21 debut on 15 August 2006 against the Netherlands. He won the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship with Germany in Sweden and kept a clean sheet in the 4–0 win in the final against England.

2010 FIFA World Cup

In May 2009, Neuer was called up to the senior German squad for a tour of Asia. After being named on the substitutes bench for a 1–1 draw with China on 29 May, Neuer made his debut in a match against the United Arab Emirates on 2 June, playing the full 90 minutes of a 7–2 win in Dubai. On 17 November, one week after the suicide of Robert Enke, Neuer made his home debut for the Germany senior team at the Arena AufSchalke in a 2–2 draw with Ivory Coast. Twelve minutes after replacing Tim Wiese as a half-time substitute, Neuer kicked a clearance against Ivorian player Emmanuel Eboué to concede an equalising goal. Although Neuer took responsibility for the goal, manager Joachim Löw called the error "unlucky". On 4 May 2010, it was announced that René Adler, who was expected to be Germany's starting goalkeeper at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, would be absent from the tournament due to a rib injury. Two days later, Neuer was named as one of the three goalkeepers in the squad for the tournament, alongside Tim Wiese and Hans-Jörg Butt. On 28 May, Löw confirmed that Neuer would be Germany's starting goalkeeper at the World Cup. Neuer made his competitive debut for Germany in the…

Considered by some in the media to be the current best goalkeeper in the world, and one of the greatest goalkeepers both of his generation and of all time, Neuer is widely regarded as a "complete" and modern goalkeeper. He is regarded by some pundits to be the best goalkeeper of the modern era, with Peter Staunton of Goal.com labelling him as "the best goalkeeper since Yashin", who is currently the only goalkeeper ever to have won the Ballon d'Or. A tall, large, athletic, and physically strong player, Neuer has earned critical acclaim from former players and pundits for his speed, stamina, composure, concentration, consistency, and mentality, as well as for being able to adapt to any given situation on the pitch. He is particularly known for his exceptional reflexes, shot-stopping abilities (with both his arms and legs), agility, speed, and footwork, as well as his handling, capacity to read the game, and ability to come out to collect crosses, which enables him to command his area effectively. When the situation demands, he will also often essentially fill the role of a sweeper when opposing players have beaten the offside trap or his team's defensive line by quickly rushing out of goal to anticipate opponents and clear the ball; his skill, speed and decision-making in this area enables his teams to maintain a high defensive line. Because of his unique playing style, Neuer has been described as a "sweeper-keeper", and has been credited with revolutionizing the role of the…

Neuer was born in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, and attended Gesamtschule Berger Feld. His brother Marcel is currently a football referee in the Verbandsliga. He received his first football when he was two, and he had his first game on 3 March 1991, 24 days before his fifth birthday. Neuer's hero and idol as a child was fellow German and former Schalke goalkeeper Jens Lehmann. Neuer is Catholic, and lends his support to a Gelsenkirchen-based Catholic social action group which campaigns against child poverty and to a Gelsenkirchen-based youth club run by the Amigonians. Neuer started a charity foundation for children, named the Manuel Neuer Kids Foundation. In November 2011, he won €500,000 for charity in a celebrity edition of Wer wird Millionär?, the German version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Neuer said in 2011 that "it would be good if a professional football player came out because it would help others to do the same". Mexico were fined for their fans' homophobic chants when Neuer had the ball during a World Cup match in 2018. In November 2022, Neuer revealed that he had to undergo three surgeries on his face in order to treat skin cancer, which later urged him to work with Angelique Kerber to promote sun cream.

Relationships

Neuer was in a relationship with Kathrin Gilch until 2014. In 2015, Neuer started a relationship with Nina Weiss. On 21 May 2017, Neuer and Weiss married in Tannheim, Austria, in a civil ceremony, which was followed by a…