🤯 Ruthlessly dropped? Media: World Cup winner axed from Bundesliga squad | OneFootball

This might come as a surprise to many and stir up quite a bit of conversation around Eintracht Frankfurt: Coach Albert Riera seems to be slowly but surely sidelining Mario Götze, Germany's World Cup hero of 2014. 

After the veteran was already benched twice recently, Riera is now said to have completely removed him from the 20-man squad for the game in Mainz on Sunday. This is reported by ‘Bild’ and ‘Hessenschau’. 

According to the reports, there is no injury and Götze is fit, so his coach did not even consider him for the substitutes' bench for sporting reasons. 

This development is particularly surprising because just a few days ago, among others, ‘Bild’ reported that the world champion had already decided to extend his contract in the Main metropolis and that the club appreciates his creativity and game intelligence on the field.

📸 Fabio Deinert - 2026 Getty Images

Accordingly, hardly anyone doubts that the offensive player can still help the Hessians even at 33. 

If the removal from the matchday squad is indeed due to sporting reasons, it seems that Albert Riera sees things a bit differently. 

He announced on Friday that he would have to cut some players and made it clear: "I field the players who best fit the opponent." 

Whether Götze simply does not fit into his game plan for the away match in Mainz or if the issue is more fundamental will become clear in the coming weeks. 

What do you think? Can you understand Götze's exclusion? Feel free to write it in the comments!

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

📸 Neil Baynes - 2026 Getty Images