Neuer 'very likely' to retire at end of season

Veteran Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer said it is “very likely” he will retire at the end of the upcoming season.

Speaking at a training camp in southern Bavaria on Tuesday evening, the 40-year-old Bayern captain said he was almost certain this campaign would be his last.

“It certainly looks very likely I’m going to retire,” Neuer told reporters.

In May, Neuer signed a one-year contract extension.

Neuer said the potential of the current Bayern squad convinced him to keep playing.

“In 85 percent of cases, I probably would have retired, but being part of this squad — along with the staff and the coaching team — is just fun.”

Bayern won the Bundesliga and German Cup double in 2025-26 but were eliminated by eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League semi-finals.

Neuer has continued to impress despite battling a series of muscle injuries.

He missed Bayern’s 3-0 German Cup final win over Stuttgart in May and sat out a number of games last season, with back-up Jonas Urbig stepping in.

Bayern are again strong favourites to win the Bundesliga and are among the top contenders for the Champions League, but Neuer said he did not consider the coming campaign to be a farewell tour.

“I’m not playing these matches just to say, ‘This is my last game.’ It doesn’t matter if I might have visited a particular stadium for the last time.”

The 2014 World Cup winner retired from international football after Euro 2024 but returned for the recent World Cup, only for Germany to crash out with a last-32 loss to Paraguay.

Neuer moved to Bayern from Schalke in 2011 and has since won 13 Bundesliga titles, six German Cups and two Champions League crowns.