Ter Stegen: From Mönchengladbach to Amsterdam

It was not that long ago that Diant Ramaj was guarding Ajax’s goal. The German shot-stopper now plays for FC Heidenheim, but was under contract in Amsterdam from August 2023 to February 2025. Further back, Ajax also enjoyed success with several Germans, including Horst Blankenburg, Werner Schaaphok and Amin Younes, all of whom reached the Club of 100. Heinz Stuy, the goalkeeper of Ajax’s golden era, was also born in Germany, although he moved to IJmuiden with his family at the age of seven and quickly adopted the Dutch language.

Football journey
Ter Stegen himself was born 34 years ago in Mönchengladbach, a city located around twenty kilometres from the Dutch border and roughly a two-hour drive from Amsterdam. It was there that his football journey began. At the age of four, he joined Borussia Mönchengladbach. He started out as a striker but ended up between the posts when he was ten years old.

The switch happened almost by accident. During a match, a teammate suffered a nosebleed and had to leave the pitch. The team needed a goalkeeper, and Marc stepped in. Instead of scoring goals, he suddenly found himself stopping them.

The future goalkeeper joined the German professional club thanks to his grandfather. Before that, he had only played football in his parents’ garage, as he once revealed in The Players’ Tribune. His grandfather knew someone who worked at Borussia Mönchengladbach, and together they drove to the club. Young Marc was given the chance to stay. It was also his grandfather who drove him to training sessions for years. Unsurprisingly, he was a devoted supporter of the club.

Borussia Mönchengladbach his home.
So was Ter Stegen. He considered Borussia Mönchengladbach his home. It was the only club he had known since the age of four. When his youth coach offered him the choice of remaining a goalkeeper, following his recent switch to the position, or moving elsewhere, there was no hesitation. That was despite the interested club still seeing him as a striker. Staying at Mönchengladbach was the only option he considered as a youngster. Those early years as an outfield player also provided him with the skills that would later make him such a comfortable ball-playing goalkeeper.

Years later, Ter Stegen took those qualities abroad to Spain. In 2014, he signed for FC Barcelona. During his first season he was not the club’s first-choice goalkeeper in La Liga, but he did start in the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League. Barcelona won every major trophy available that year, meaning Ter Stegen lifted Europe’s most prestigious club prize in his debut season in Spain.

Regular goalkeeper in La Liga
In his second campaign at Barcelona, he also became the club’s regular goalkeeper in La Liga. Since the 2015/16 season, Ter Stegen has made 293 appearances in Spain’s top flight across spells with FC Barcelona and Girona. In those matches, he kept 128 clean sheets. That means he prevented the opposition from scoring in 43.7% of the games he played. Among goalkeepers in Europe’s top five leagues with at least 250 appearances, only Ederson and Jan Oblak boast a better clean-sheet percentage.

His passing accuracy has also been exceptional. Measured across his eleven seasons in Spanish football since 2015/16, Ter Stegen has averaged a passing accuracy of 84.3%. That places him second among all goalkeepers in Europe’s top five leagues, with only Ederson ranking higher.

Reunited
At Ajax, Ter Stegen will be reunited with head coach Míchel Sánchez, with whom he previously worked for a brief period at Girona. It marks the start of a new chapter in a football story that began more than thirty years ago, just across the border in Germany.