Looking back on Ginter's five years at Gladbach

Matthias Ginter parted ways with The Foals at the end of the season. We look back on the central defender’s five memorable years at the club.

Ginter started his professional career at SC Freiburg, when he broke into the first team as a youngster in January 2012. The then 18-year-old trained with the first team during the Winter break and made his professional debut in a 1-0 win over Augsburg on 21st January. He came on in the 70th minute and scored the winning goal just before full time.

After two seasons at Freiburg, Ginter moved to BVB and spent three years with The Black and Yellows, before moving to Gladbach in the summer of 2017. He made his debut for the club on 11th August in a 2-1 win over Rot Weiss Essen in the DFB-Pokal. The central defender became a rock and the back for The Foals and featured in almost every game. In his five years at the club, he made a total of 179 appearances (154 in the Bundesliga, 13 in the DFB-Pokal, eight in the Champions League and four in the Europa League) and was directly involved in 16 goals (eleven goals and five assists). His last goal for Borussia came in a 2-0 home win over Hertha BSC back in March.

“A massive thank you for the last five years! I have enjoyed every minute at this special club,” wrote the 6 foot 3 defender on social media a few days ago. Ginter and Gladbach have been a through a lot together in the last five seasons. He played in the UEFA Europa League with The Foals in the 2019/20 season and was instrumental in the club’s run in the Champions League the season after, when VfL reached the Last 16.

On the last matchday of the 2021/22 season, Ginter played for The Foals for the final time. In this 5-1 win over TSG Hoffenheim, he came on for Marvin Friedrich in the 80th minute to a standing ovation from the crowd. The native Freiburger is returning to SC for the 2022/23 season.

Everyone at Borussia Mönchengladbach wishes Matthias Ginter all the best for the future! Until next time, Matze!