Europa League final defeat and World Cup snub: Ginter opens up on “double blow” | OneFootball

For Matthias Ginter, the 20th and 21st May 2026 will always remain among the worst days in his professional career. The center-back found out that he was not included in Julian Nagelsmann’s World Cup squad only 12 hours after SC Freiburg’s defeat to Aston Villa in the Europa League final.

"It was the bitterest time in my career. A double blow at the end of an actually very special season," said Ginter in an interview with Kicker. The 32-year-old was the key player in Freiburg’s excellent campaign in all fronts, but Germany’s coach decided to drop him from the final squad.

Ginter was very disappointed at the lack of communication from Nagelsmann as he also hinted at previous issues with the national team coach. "I don't want to talk about the way it generally went down for three years (with Nagelsmann). There were published leaks, but I was only informed of the decision on Thursday, the day of the nomination."

A 2014 World Cup winner without playing a single minute in Brazil, Ginter admitted he didn’t realize the impact of missing a World Cup at first. "It was only with the opening match of the World Cup that I became really aware of it. And, because it was a package, the disappointment of losing the Europa League final came back again." Ginter told Kicker.

Ginter also played in the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, although Germany were knocked out of the group stage both times. "I've already experienced disappointments in my career, but not in the magnitude of those twelve hours," the former Borussia Dortmund defender concluded about the darkest hours of his playing career.