OneFootball
·5 February 2026
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Yahoo sportsOneFootball
·5 February 2026
Marc-André ter Stegen simply cannot catch a break. Hardly had the German national goalkeeper begun a new chapter at Girona in the winter of 2026 when the next bitter setback followed. The 33-year-old has been injured again and will have to undergo surgery.
Several months of downtime lie ahead—potentially with serious consequences for his role in the German national team. Now, he has addressed his injury himself on Instagram.
"I am a positive person. I have always had this attitude, and it has accompanied me through every challenge I have had to face—but this one is especially hard for me," he wrote at the beginning of his post.
This past weekend, the worst thing he could imagine happened: he was injured again, just after arriving in Girona. He said he was received with "great warmth and closeness" and had been looking forward to helping the team in the fight to stay in the league.

But that will not be possible now. "As athletes, our greatest joy is competition: training and matches. I now have to pause all of that for several months, as I have decided to undergo surgery," ter Stegen continued in his post.
Due to the long period out, ter Stegen's status as Germany’s number one is seriously at risk. Looking ahead to the 2026 World Cup, the national coach and the DFB may be forced to consider an alternative in goal. Oliver Baumann is increasingly coming into focus.
Despite all the uncertainty, ter Stegen’s message ends on a fighting note. “I will come back,” he writes—a sentence that perfectly sums up his character. Whether he will be back to full strength in time for the World Cup remains to be seen. One thing is clear, however: Marc-André ter Stegen will not give up, even if this latest setback hits him especially hard.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.
📸 Alex Caparros - 2026 Getty Images








































