Manuel Neuer injury news: Bayern confirm partial tendon tear in captain's right foot

Manuel Neuer for Germany during the match against Ecuador at the 2026 World Cup
Photo: Bryan Berlin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Bayern Munich will be without captain Manuel Neuer for the time being after the goalkeeper suffered a partial tendon tear in his right foot during Saturday's 2-1 Bundesliga win at Mainz. The club confirmed in an official statement on Sunday, 8 November, that an examination by the Bayern medical unit confirmed the diagnosis. Bayern gave no return date for the 40-year-old, saying only that he will be out of action for the time being.

What happened at Mainz

Neuer started the match at the MEWA Arena, his 550th Bundesliga appearance, but did not make it to half-time. He was forced off shortly before the break with the foot injury, and Jonas Urbig replaced him in the 45th minute. Bayern still won the match 2-1, a result that kept them unbeaten as the Bundesliga headed into the November international break.

The injury is a recurrence of a problem Neuer has dealt with before. Bayern board member for sport Max Eberl said after full-time that it was the same problem the goalkeeper had before and that it had resurfaced, adding that the club hoped it was not too serious. Neuer himself said on social media that he would now focus fully on his recovery and support the team while he is out.

What Bayern said

Bayern's official statement, published on the club's website on 8 November, was short and specific. The club confirmed in an official statement that Neuer sustained a partial tear of a tendon in his right foot during the 2-1 win against Mainz, as confirmed by an examination by the club's medical unit, and that he was substituted shortly before half-time. In the club's own summary, he will be out of action for the time being. That wording matters: it confirms the injury and the diagnosis, but it sets no timescale and names no match as a target for his return.

That absence of a date is the key point for supporters searching for one. Reports elsewhere have offered estimates for how long Neuer might be out, but those estimates did not come from Bayern, and this article does not repeat them. Until the club itself puts a timescale on the injury, any return date would be speculation. The confirmed facts are the diagnosis, the substitution at Mainz, and the fact that the captain is out for now.

What it means for Bayern after the break

The timing is awkward for Bayern, even with the international break giving them two weeks without a match. Their next game is at home to 1. FC Köln on Friday, 20 November 2026, kick-off 19:30 UTC at the Allianz Arena, followed by a Champions League trip to Lille on Wednesday, 25 November, and a Bundesliga visit to Hamburg on Saturday, 28 November. With no return date given, his availability for those games depends entirely on how the foot responds — something only Bayern can confirm.

Urbig, 23, is the goalkeeper who stepped in at Mainz, and he has deputised for Neuer before this season. The club has not confirmed who will start against Köln, so no replacement should be assumed from the Mainz substitution alone. What can be said plainly is that Bayern's depth in goal will be tested in the weeks after the break, and the side that plays Köln may well do so without its captain and first-choice goalkeeper.

Neuer also joins an injury list that already includes Ismael Saibari and Serge Gnabry, who were both ruled out the previous weekend after the draw with Borussia Dortmund. Saibari has had surgery on a torn ankle ligament and Gnabry has a hamstring injury, as Bayern confirmed in an official statement on 1 November. Losing a third senior player in the space of a week, and the captain, underlines how much of Bayern's squad is currently being managed through injury.

What happens next — and what is not yet known

For Neuer, the next step is treatment and rehabilitation of the tendon tear, and Bayern will provide further updates when the club is ready to do so. The club has not said how long that process will take. Supporters should therefore treat any date circulating online as unconfirmed unless it is backed by a further official statement from Bayern.

That is also why this article gives no expected return for Neuer. The confirmed story is the partial tendon tear, the substitution at Mainz, and the captain's absence for the time being. ScorePulse will update this story when Bayern give their next official assessment. The Mainz match itself is covered on the Mainz vs Bayern Munich match page.

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