Manuel Neuer Biography: Manuel Neuer is a German professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper and as a caption of the German national team and Bayern Munich. Manuel’s playing style is amazing his speed, quick reflexes, excellent shot-stopping abilities, strength, and long throwing range have given him the title of “Sweeper-Keeper”. Manuel has received many laurels in his career so far, including the 2014 FIFA World Cup with Germany as well as has received the Golden Glove award for being the best goal saver throughout the tournament. He has been ranked the third-best player in the world by The Guardian. He has also won the IFFHS World’s Best Goalkeeper award four times in a row from 2013-16.
EARLY LIFE
Manuel was born on 27th March 1986, in Gelsenkirchen North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany to Marita Neuer and Peter Neuer. His parents were Catholic and were respectful members of the Gelsenkirchen-based Catholic Church. Manuel got his first football when he was just two years old and played football for the first time on 3rd March 1991. He grew up admiring the Schalke goalkeeper Jens Lehmann that ended in completely neglecting his studies and only focusing on professional football. His hard work paid off and in the year 1991, he got found his way into Schalke 04 as a goalkeeper.
PERSONAL LIFE
On 21st May 2017, Manuel married his long-time girlfriend Nina Weiss in Tannheim, Austria, in a civil ceremony followed by a church wedding in the Cathedral of Santissima della Madia in Monopoli, Italy. Manuel runs a charity child foundation named Manuel Kids Foundation. He had also given his voice over for the character Frank McCay in the German version of the 2013 Disney animated movie Monsters University.
PROFESSIONAL LIFE
After joining Schalke 04, he performed beyond everyone’s expectations. He made his place as an integral part of the team from 2003 to 2005. His major achievement during those years was assisting the club to conquer DFB-Ligapokal of 2005 after which he was officially signed for the team. Starting his official season for the club, he made his Bundesliga debut as a substitute in 2006-07 season. Despite being young and new, Manuel was widely tipped to be a potential successor to his former idol Jens Lehmann in the future of the German national team. Manuel started the 2007-08 season playing three matches in the German League Cup.
On 5th March 2008 in the first knockout round of UEFA Champions League against the Porto, he single-handedly kept Schalke in the game through saving several saves and penalties to advance his team in the quarter-finals. Owing to his performance, he was shortlisted for the 2007-08 UEFA Club Goalkeeper of the Year award. He became the only Bundesliga goalkeeper to make it on the list and one among the three Bundesliga players to play every minute in the 2007-08 season. He finished the 2007-08 season making 50 appearances.
In 2008-09 season Schalke finished the league table at the 8th position. However Manuel’s performance while playing in the Under-21 European Championships was very charming as well as remarkable that the Bayern Munich manager Felix Magath offered him a contract to play for Bayern, but Manuel rejected the offer and continued with Schalke. The 2010-11 season was the last season of Manuel for the club Schalke. Playing his last season he was assigned as the caption of the team at the Champions League semi-final match. Under his assistance, the club won the DFB-Pokal by defeating MSV Duisburg 5-0. In April 2011 he announced that he will be quitting the club and will not continue extending his contract for which Schalke fans criticized him a lot who were disappointed with him leaving for a rival club.
After quitting Schalke on 1st June 2011, Manuel joined Bayern Munich for a five-year contract keeping him till 2016. Taking a rival team player didn’t suit well for the Munich and soon after the contract was signed with Manuel, the club’s fans started protesting as they were unhappy about Bayern buying a Schalke Keeper. On 2nd July 2011 after a round-table discussion between Bayern and a group of supporters, it was concluded that he will be treated with due respect. Playing for the club Manuel in the first debut week broke the Bayern Munich record for most competitive clean sheets in a row. On 25th April 2012, he saved crucial goals kicked from Cristiano and Kaka which assisted his team in the semi-final match against Real Madrid, the match was eventually won by Bayern. In the finals of the 2012 UEFA Champions League against Chelsea that went to a penalty shoot after a 1-1 draw, he took the third penalty for the Bayern and also saved one penalty taken by Juan Mata. Unfortunately, his club lost the match by 4-3 on penalties. After a major defeat in the final match of the champions’ league, Manuel worked harder and harder upon his skills to enhance his performance, his hard work paid off as the club won the 2013 FIFA Club World Cup and 2013 UEFA Super Cup, after which there was no stopping for him, playing for the club he gave his precious contribution in the Bundesliga for eight years consecutively from 2012-2018, DFB-Pokal from 2012-16 and 2018-19 and the DFL-Supercup in 2012 and 2016-18. For his national team, he has played a crucial role to conquer the 2014 FIFA World Cup title and the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship of 2009. In 2014 he was honored with FIFA World Cup Golden Glove and was embedded in the 2014 FIFA World Cup dream team.
Clubs | Season |
Schalke 04 II | 2003-09 |
Schalke 04 | 2005-11 |
Bayern Munich | 2011-current |
HONOURS
Schalke 04
- DFB-Pokal: 2010–11
- DFB-Ligapokal: 2005
Bayern Munich
- Bundesliga: 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19
- DFB-Pokal: 2012–13, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2018–19
- DFL-Supercup: 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018
- UEFA Champions League: 2012–13
- UEFA Super Cup: 2013
- FIFA Club World Cup: 2013
INTERNATIONAL HONORS
Germany
- FIFA World Cup: 2014
- UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship: 2009
ACHIEVEMENTS
- Silber Lorbeerblatt: 2010, 2014
- Footballer of the Year in Germany: 2011, 2014
- ESM Team of the Year: 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15
- UEFA Euro Team of the Tournament: 2012
- 2013 UEFA Champions League Final: Fans’ Man of the Match
- IFFHS World’s Best Goalkeeper: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
- UEFA Goalkeeper of the Year: 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015
- FIFA FIFPro World XI: 2013, 20142015, 2016
- UEFA Team of the Year: 2013, 2014, 2015
- UEFA Champions League Squad of the season: 2013–14, 2015–16
- FIFA World Cup Golden Glove: 2014
- FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 2014
- FIFA World Cup Dream Team: 2014
- L’Équipe’s player of the year: 2014
- AIPS Athlete of the Year: 2014
- AIPS Europe Athlete of the Year – Frank Taylor Trophy: 2014
- Bundesliga Team of the Year: 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17
PHYSICAL MEASUREMENTS
Height: 6ft 4in
Weight: 92kg
Eye color: Blue
Hair color: Brown
PERSONAL INFORMATION:
Full Name: Manuel Peter Neuer
Date of Birth: 27th March 1986
Place of Birth: Germany
Playing Position: Goalkeeper
Nickname: Snapper
EDUCATION: unknown
Relationships: Nina Weiss
Kids: None
HOBBIES: Playing football
CONTROVERSY
None
NET WORTH:
41 Million dollars
SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/manuel.neuer/
Twitter: @Manuel_Neuer
Instagram: @manuelneuer