Coach Julian Nagelsmann officially confirmed that Marc-Andre ter Stegen will be Germany's new number 1 goalkeeper after Manuel Neuer retires from international football.
On his decision to make the Barcelona goalkeeper his No. 1, Nagelsmann said: “He has been captain at Barcelona for many years and is the clear No. 1 there. He is the same for us. I don’t want to artificially heat up the competition.
Oliver Baumann played very well last season and also made a good impression at the EURO. Alexander Nubel also did well in Stuttgart last year. The battle for the back four is still open, including Kevin Trapp and Bernd Leno. The important thing is that the number 1 is decided.”
There were doubts over whether Ter Stegen should replace Neuer, especially from former Bayern Munich and national team midfielder Didi Hamann, but between the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and the run-up to EURO 2024, Ter Stegen was No. 1 and put in some pretty good performances before Neuer returned in the German league.
Having played a long-term role as Neuer's back-up, Ter Stegen has only made 40 appearances for Germany since making his debut in 2012. The 32-year-old has never played in a major international tournament but was part of the squad that won the 2017 Confederations Cup.
From this point on, the competition will be who will be Ter Stegen's back-up. Oliver Baumann, Alexander Nubel, Kevin Trapp and Bernd Leno have all been called up in recent years.
There are also younger goalkeepers waiting in the wings such as Freiburg's Noah Atubolu, Augsburg's Finn Dahmen and FC Cologne's Jonas Urbig, all of whom have the potential to feature for the German national team.
After EURO 2024, along with Neuer, a series of important names said goodbye to the German team such as Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller, Ilkay Gundogan .
