Manuel Neuer

Manuel Neuer

Personal information
Full name	Manuel Neuer
Height	1.94 m (6 ft 4+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team	Bayern Munich
Number	1
Youth career
1991–2005	Schalke 04
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2004–2008	Schalke 04 II	26	(0)
2005–2011	Schalke 04	155	(0)
2011–	Bayern Munich	0	(0)
International career‡
2004	Germany U18	1	(0)
2004–2005	Germany U19	11	(0)
2005–2006	Germany U20	4	(0)
2006–2009	Germany U21	20	(0)
2009–	Germany	20	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22:46, 10 May 2011 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 18:57, 7 June 2011 (UTC)

Manuel Neuer (German pronunciation: [ˈmaːnu̯ɛl ˈnɔʏ.ɐ]; born 27 March 1986 in Gelsenkirchen) is a German footballer and current goalkeeper who plays for Bayern Munich.

Club career

Schalke 04

Neuer signed professional terms in 2005 after progressing through every age group at his hometown club. He made his Bundesliga debut when he came on to substitute the injured Frank Rost on match day 2 of the 2006–07 season. The 20-year-old eventually won the starting position when Rost was surprisingly dropped for the crunch clash against Bayern Munich. He did not disappoint and managed to secure a 2–2 draw against the defending champions. Despite his young age, he was widely tipped to be a potential successor to his former idol Jens Lehmann in the future for the German national team.

On 5 March 2008, in the first knockout round of the UEFA Champions League, Neuer performed fantastically against FC Porto where he almost single-handedly kept Schalke in the game with some brilliant saves and forced the game into penalties. He later saved penalties from Bruno Alves and Lisandro Lopez to help Schalke advance to the quarter finals. For his heroics, he was shortlisted for the 2007–08 UEFA Club Goalkeeper of the Year award of which he was the youngest as well as the only Bundesliga goalkeeper on the list. He was one of only three Bundesliga players to play every minute in the 2007–08 season.

The 2008–09 was somewhat disappointing as Schalke finished eighth in the league table and missed out on a Europa League spot. However, his good showing at the 2009 U-21 European Championships sparked interest from Bayern Munich, with Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge declaring interest in signing the young goalkeeper. Schalke's new manager Felix Magath, however, insisted that Neuer "will play for Schalke next season". In November, he was the only German goalkeeper in the list of five nominated goalkeepers for the UEFA Team of the Year. On 20 April 2011, he announced that he will not be extending his contract with Schalke which is set to expire at the end of the 2011–12 season.

Bayern Munich

On 1 June 2011 Schalke and Bayern Munich confirmed that Neuer will move to Bayern Munich in July 2011. Neuer signed a five-year contract that will last until June 2016. The move was worth €18 million. After a round-table discussion between Bayern Munich and group of supporters’ representatives on 2 July 2011, among other things, it was decided that Manuel Neuer will be "regarded as a full member of the FC Bayern Munich team, who should be treated with due respect. Furthermore, hostility towards him should cease".

International career

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

Neuer was called-up on 19 May 2009 to the senior Germany squad for a tour of Asia. He made his debut on this tour in a match against United Arab Emirates on 2 June. He played in the November friendly against the Ivory Coast that ended 2–2. Although he took responsibility for the first goal conceded, manager Joachim Löw refused to blame him and instead commended him for doing his best.

The death of keeper Robert Enke in November 2009 saw him elevated as the second choice goalkeeper under René Adler. However, Adler suffered a serious rib injury which ruled out of the World Cup. Neuer was then called to become Germany's first choice goalkeeper ahead of Tim Wiese and Hans-Jörg Butt for the upcoming tournament.

Neuer was selected as Germany's number one goalkeeper for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. During the group stages, he only conceded a single goal, in the match against Serbia. He provided the assist for Klose's first goal against England, winning 4–1. He played in all of Germany's World Cup matches apart from the third-place play-off against Uruguay, when Hans-Jörg Butt was selected.

Honours

Club

Schalke 04

• German League Cup:
  • 2005
• German Cup:
  • 2011

International

Germany national under-21

• UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship 2009

Germany

• FIFA World Cup 2010: Third place - Bronze medal

Individual

• Best Bundesliga Goalkeeper: 2007
• Best UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Goalkeeper: 2009
• Fritz-Walter-Medal 2005 in Silver (Category U19)
• Silbernes Lorbeerblatt (1): 2010

Career statistics

Club performance

As of 33 May 2011

Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2005–06||rowspan="6"|Schalke 04||rowspan="6"|Bundesliga||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0 |- |2006–07||27||0||0||0||0||0||27||0 |- |2007–08||34||0||3||0||10||0||47||0 |- |2008–09||27||0||2||0||5||0||34||0 |- |2009–10||34||0||5||0||-||-||39||0 |- |2010–11||34||0||6||0||12||0||52||0 Template:Football player statistics 5156||0||16||0||27||0||199||0 Template:Football player statistics end

Personal life

Neuer attended Gesamtschule Berger Feld. His brother Marcel is currently a football referee in the Verbandsliga. He got his first football when he was two. 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.

External links

• Official website Template:De icon
• Manuel Neuer at Schalke04.com Template:De icon
• Manuel Neuer at fussballdaten.de (in German)

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