Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer will return to the Germany squad for the 2026 World Cup in North America, from June 11 to July 19, coach Julian Nagelsmann announced this Thursday (21).
Bayern Munich captain and goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer, 40, had announced his retirement from the national team in 2024 to focus on his goals with the club.
His last match for the national team came more than two years ago, in the quarter-final match of the 2024 Euro Cup that Germany lost to Spain 2-1.
To replace Neuer, world champion in 2014, Nagelsmann had chosen Marc-André Ter Stegen, but the goalkeeper accumulated injuries — rupture of the patellar tendon at the end of September 2024, after seven months away from the field; and back surgery at the end of July 2025 and three months away from competition.
Relegated to the bench at Barcelona, Ter Stegen transferred to Girona in January 2026 to gain playing time, but suffered an injury again in February and has not played since.
Without Ter Stegen, Hoffenheim goalkeeper Oliver Baumann became the starter for the German team.
Neuer, who renewed his contract for another season with Bayern, until 2027, suffered two injuries a few months ago, to his left calf, but recovered and returned to good form.
Last weekend, Neuer was substituted in the second half of the match against Cologne, in the last round of the Bundesliga, after feeling pain in his left calf, which raised doubts about his return to the four-time world champion team, dispelled by Nagelsmann this Thursday.
Germany is in group E of the World Cup: the team will debut against Curaçao on June 14, in Houston, face Ivory Coast on June 19, in Toronto, and Ecuador five days later, in New York.
If Neuer plays a game, he will become the second goalkeeper to play in five World Cups, equaling the mark of Mexican Antonio Carbajal (between 1950 and 1966) — fellow Mexican Guillermo Ochoa and Italian Gianluigi Buffon were called up for five World Cups, but Buffon played four and Ochoa, three.
In addition to Neuer, another new addition to coach Julian Nagelsmann’s list is striker Lennart Karl, just 18 years old, the revelation of the season in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich.
Germany’s World Cup squad list
Goalkeepers: Oliver Baumann (Hoffenheim), Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Alexander Nübel (Stuttgart)
Defenders: Waldemar Anton (Borussia Dortmund), Nathaniel Brown (Eintracht Frankfurt), Pascal Gross (Brighton), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Felix Nmecha (Borussia Dortmund), Aleksandar Pavlovic (Bayern Munich), David Raum (RB Leipzig), Antonio Rüdiger (Real Madrid), Nico Schlotterbeck (Borussia Dortmund), Angelo Stiller (Stuttgart), Jonathan Tah (Bayern Munich), Malick Thiaw (Newcastle)
Midfielders and attackers: Nadiem Amiri (Mainz), Maximilian Beier (Borussia Dortmund), Leon Goretzka (Bayern Munich), Kai Havertz (Arsenal), Lennart Karl (Bayern Munich), Jamie Leweling (Stuttgart), Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich), Leroy Sané (Galatasaray), Deniz Undav (Stuttgart), Florian Wirtz (Liverpool), Nick Woltemade (Newcastle)
