Anika Bissel: Manuel Neuer's Wife, Age and Nationality

Anika Bissel, who now uses the name Anika Neuer, is the wife of Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. She is a German handball player, on a break from the sport since 2025, born in Erlangen, Bavaria, and German outlets give her birthday as 11 June 2000, which makes her 26 in November 2026. The couple married in November 2023, they have a son born in March 2024, and Neuer confirmed in May 2026 that a second child is on the way.

This article used to call her Neuer's girlfriend, because that is what she was when the relationship became public in 2020. Years later the story has moved on a long way, so OhMyFootball has rewritten it with what reputable German and Swiss media have reported, updated for November 2026. Where something comes from a single outlet, we say so.

Is Anika Bissel Manuel Neuer's wife?

Yes. German Wikipedia states that Neuer and Anika Bissel married on 12 November 2023 in Tegernsee, away from the public eye. The Swiss paper Blick reported the secret wedding on 14 November 2023, citing Bild: it took place on a Sunday at midday in the closest family circle, and Anika revealed it herself by changing her Instagram name to Anika Neuer on the Tuesday morning. Some German outlets give December 2023 for the marriage, so you will see both months online; the Wikipedia date and the Blick timeline point to 12 November.

A bigger celebration followed in the summer of 2025. According to the German celebrity site Promiflash, the couple celebrated over several days from 18 to 20 July 2025 at Schloss Freudenstein in South Tyrol, Italy. Promiflash noted a year later, on 22 July 2026, that the couple marked their first anniversary privately and without posts of their own.

How did Neuer and Anika Bissel get together?

Neuer's first marriage was to the dressage rider Nina Weiss. According to German Wikipedia, he met Nina in August 2014, they married in 2017 and their separation was announced in January 2020. The divorce followed by the end of that year.

The new relationship surfaced just a few months later. On 6 May 2020 the Swiss site Nau.ch, citing the magazine Bunte, reported that Neuer was in a new relationship with Anika Bissel, then 19, a left winger for SG H2Ku Herrenberg in the 2. Bundesliga. The same report said he had separated from Nina almost four months earlier and had not yet divorced. So the claim in our old article that they got together "four months after the separation" matches what the press wrote at the time, but it describes when the news broke, not when they first met. We could not find an account from either of them of how they met.

Neuer is about 14 years older than Anika. Our earlier version said 16 years; that was wrong.

Who is Anika Bissel?

Anika Bissel is a German handball player turned partner of one of the world's best-known goalkeepers. She was born in Erlangen, in Bavaria, so her nationality is German. She has not given a long public interview that we could find, and her Instagram profile is reported to be private: t-online noted in June 2026 that it is only accessible to selected people. The web.de portal lists her account under the name anikaneuer3.

Quick facts

Full name: Anika Neuer, born Anika Bissel
Birthday: 11 June 2000 (web.de), age 26 as of November 2026
Birthplace and nationality: Erlangen, Bavaria; German
Husband: Manuel Neuer (married 12 November 2023, party in South Tyrol in July 2025)
Children: a son born in March 2024; a second child expected, as announced in May 2026
Brother: Christopher Bissel, also a handball player (German Wikipedia)
Studies and work: fashion management; tvmovie.de says she works in the fashion industry
Sport: handball, left wing

Anika Bissel's handball career

Anika played for SG H2Ku Herrenberg, the club Nau.ch named when the relationship was reported in May 2020, when she was in the 2. Bundesliga. According to web.de she then joined ESV 1927 Regensburg for the 2021/22 promotion season. In 2025 she announced a handball break after the 2024/25 season. We have not found a report that she has returned to a club since.

Her brother Christopher Bissel is also a professional handball player, so the sport runs in the family.

Education and work

Our old article said she enrolled at university to study fashion management. That matches what tvmovie.de wrote in June 2026: she studied fashion management and works in the fashion industry. We are not naming an employer, and we have not used registry or profile data about her, since she is a private person.

Anika and Manuel Neuer's family

Their son was born in March 2024. We are not naming him or showing him in photos, since the family has kept the child out of the spotlight.

On 17 May 2026, according to German Wikipedia, Neuer shared during Bayern's title celebration that they are expecting a second child. He also spoke about it in an interview with Bayerischer Rundfunk in mid-May, explaining that a long-distance trip was not planned because of it. As of the latest reports we found, from July 2026, Anika was still described as pregnant, and we have not seen a report of the birth. If you are reading this later, check the latest news.

Where does Anika Bissel live?

German Wikipedia lists Neuer's residence as Tegernsee in Bavaria, and Blick wrote in 2020 that Anika lived there with him. We do not give an address.

Who is Manuel Neuer? A short career timeline

Neuer is the goalkeeper Anika is married to. He was born on 27 March 1986, so he is 40 in November 2026.

2006 to 2011: Schalke 04, where he became first-choice goalkeeper.
2011: joins Bayern Munich, where he is still playing in November 2026. He has been club captain since summer 2017.
2013 and 2020: wins the Champions League with Bayern, both times in a treble-winning season.
2014: World Cup winner with Germany. He captained the national team from September 2016 until autumn 2023, according to German Wikipedia.
21 August 2024: retires from international football after 124 matches.
Summer 2026: returns to Germany's World Cup squad and plays in the opening win over Curaçao. After Germany's round-of-32 exit to Paraguay on penalties, he announced his international retirement again.

Neuer's 2025/26 and 2026/27 seasons

18 October 2025: becomes the Bundesliga's all-time leader in wins, passing Thomas Müller (363 at that point, per German Wikipedia).
2025/26: Bayern win the Bundesliga, the DFB-Pokal and the Supercup. In May 2026 he extended his contract, which now runs to 30 June 2027.
22 August 2026: Bayern win the Supercup against Borussia Dortmund.
Bundesliga opener against Stuttgart (5-1): plays his 600th competitive match for Bayern and becomes the first player to appear in 21 consecutive Bundesliga seasons (German Wikipedia).
7 November 2026: at 40 years and 225 days he becomes the oldest player to feature for Bayern in the Bundesliga, but he goes off before half-time in the 2-1 win at Mainz. Bayern announced a partial tendon tear in his right foot and gave no return date; Bild reported he could be out for around two months, which is not an official figure.

For background, see our 2020 article on Manuel Neuer's decision about his future and the one about his World Cup appearances at 40.

Anika's Instagram is private, so we have not embedded any posts. The older profile link that our previous article used no longer reflects her account, and the Instagram post it embedded is no longer available. Photos of the couple often come from public events and from friends' posts, for example bridesmaids' wedding pictures that Promiflash reported on in 2026.

FAQ about Anika Bissel

How old is Anika Bissel?

Anika Bissel was born on 11 June 2000, according to web.de, so she is 26 in November 2026.

What is Anika Bissel's nationality?

She is German. She was born in Erlangen, Bavaria.

Is Anika Bissel Manuel Neuer's wife or girlfriend?

His wife. They married in November 2023 (12 November per German Wikipedia) and celebrated again in South Tyrol in July 2025. She was reported as his girlfriend from May 2020.

Does Anika Bissel have a Wikipedia page?

We did not find one under her own name. German Wikipedia covers her in Manuel Neuer's private-life section, which is where the wedding date comes from.