Jamal Musiala exclusive: ‘Ronaldinho, Messi, Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo were untouchable in my eyes'

New York Times

16-07-2025

Munich, Germany. The woman at the front desk explains the rules of entry: no leaks, no tweets and, above all, a strict no-photographs rule. So strict, in fact, that you have to hand over your phone for the relevant people to put a sticker over its camera lens.
It's a sunny Wednesday afternoon in mid-May and, at the entrance to the FGV Schmidle studios, guests are asked to sign a legally binding confidentiality agreement. Everything has to remain top secret until the big release date. The curtains are pulled tight and, in these moments, we are reminded that a lot has changed in the world of Jamal Musiala, superstar.
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What nobody could have known at the time was that, two months on, Musiala would find out how cruel this sport can sometimes be. A loose ball, a chase, a collision and, finally, the snap — the terrible moment when he went down, shouting in distress, during Bayern Munich's quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup.
When he looked down, Musiala could see his foot pointing in entirely the wrong direction. He had broken his fibula. His ankle was fractured and his ligaments were ruptured. And then came the blur of fear and almost unbearable pain.
Today, the secret is out and Musiala can be revealed as the cover star for EA SPORTS FC 26 — football royalty, in modern terms — alongside Jude Bellingham of Real Madrid.
This is why The Athletic was invited to Munich eight weeks ago to see Musiala filming the promotional material. He was happy, amiable, and generous with his time. And to sit opposite him during those moments was to understand why it meant so much to him.
Imagine being a kid who grew up playing this football-simulation game, dreaming that one day he might join the small band of A-listers to be selected for a place on the front cover.
'I was that little kid,' Musiala explained. 'Growing up, I'd see my idols on the cover. It seemed impossible to think that one day I'd be in their position.
'I'd play the game with my friends, my dad and my sister. These players — Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi, Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo — were untouchable in my eyes. I'd watch their skills, then go out to the garden or the park, dribbling through cones, seeing what I could learn from them. So this is a big moment for me, a dream come true.'
Yet this was never how the big reveal was supposed to happen. Not with Musiala recovering from an operation to put his leg back together again. Not with a long period of rehabilitation and uncertainty ahead of him. Not with doctors estimating it will be November, at the earliest, before he can play again.
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'Thank you for all the love and support — it's nice to see how the football world comes together at a time like this,' Musiala confirmed on social media. 'I really appreciate it. The surgery went really well. I'm in good care. I'm going to use the next period to build up my strength and positivity again.'
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Julien Lanfrey, athlete marketing director at EA SPORTS, mirrored Musiala's confidence. 'Jamal is an incredibly talented player and has a huge future ahead of him, which is just one of the many reasons he was chosen to feature on our cover,' he said. 'We're excited to see him back on the pitch as soon as possible and wish him a full and speedy recovery.'
Musiala's love for football was developed in Fulda, a small city of 69,000 people, 250 miles north of the part of Bavaria he now calls home.
His junior team was called TSV Lehnerz and, right from the start, the youngster demonstrated the balance and lightness of touch that led, many years later, to him becoming known as 'Bambi' among his Bayern team-mates.
'It was Leroy Sane who gave me that nickname,' said Musiala, with a smile. 'It kinda stuck. But I was a lot smaller as a kid. My dad had a crazy love for football, and still does. He really pushed me.
'I remember playing in games and tournaments in Fulda when the other boys were two years older than me. I always had to deal with bigger and stronger opponents.
'My first football memory, though, was being asked to be the linesman. I was six years old, standing with the flag on the touchline, and it must have looked quite funny. But I guess it showed that, even as a very young kid, I must have understood the game.'
The family lived in an apartment block on one of the busiest routes in and out of Fulda. His primary school was almost directly across the four lanes of traffic and his first football coach, Branko Milenkovski, was a former Macedonia youth international. Life was good.
So was it slightly unnerving, scary even, when his parents broke the news to their son, at the age of eight, that they were leaving Germany to start a new life in England?
To a lot of kids, it would have been, yes. Musiala, however, took it all in his stride — and that ability, even at a very young age, to cope with new challenges might be useful, to say the least, in the coming months.
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'At the time, I was just excited,' he said. 'I remember telling my mum I'd be really happy to move and try something new.
'I didn't speak any English when we arrived and my first couple of months were quite tough because I didn't understand much at all. But I adapted quickly. I liked my new life and when you are around people who are speaking the language, you pick it up 10 times quicker.'
His mother, Carolin, had a place at the University of Southampton and it was not long after arriving on the south coast that Musiala was invited to enrol, on schoolboy terms, with the city's football club.
Carolin was taking a bachelor's degree in social sciences and, as she continued her studies, it required the family to move again, this time to London. Musiala went to the same school, Whitgift in Croydon, as Callum Hudson-Odoi, who was two years above him and part of Chelsea's academy system. It was not long before Chelsea's talent-spotters became aware of Musiala's potential, too.
'It (football) helped a lot in terms of making friends and settling in,' Musiala recalled. 'We played every lunchtime, every break, and when I went to Chelsea, I had friends from the same school who were there at the same time.
'Mika Biereth, who now plays for Monaco, is another one from Whitgift and one of my closest friends. Michael Olise was at Chelsea at the same time, which is funny, bearing in mind we now play together at Bayern. I was in the same group at Chelsea as Tino Livramento, who is now at Newcastle United, and I was happy in London.
'It wasn't planned that we would leave England to go back to Germany. I had just finished my school exams and I was enjoying being at Chelsea. But then Bayern came in and, again, it just felt right to try something new.
'I knew how big Bayern were and, in the end, I just thought, 'Why not? Take the chance — go for it, and let's see if it works out'. I never try to think too much about what could go wrong in these moments. I'd much rather trust myself and go with the flow.'
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What has happened since must grieve Chelsea, given that Bayern managed to secure a superstar-in-the-making, aged 16, for a mere £170,000 ($230,000 at current rates) in compensation. Six years on, Musiala is a five-time Bundesliga champion and has twice been named Germany's national team player of the year, as well as being the joint-leading scorer at last summer's European Championship.
This is the man — or boy, perhaps — who helped Bayern win the 2020 Club World Cup in Qatar at the age of 17 and, when the victorious team returned home, had to rely on a lift from his mother to get to training (in Germany, you must be 18 to hold a driver's licence).
To see Musiala close-up, however, is to realise there is nothing particularly showy or big-time about him (even on the set of a photoshoot where there are body doubles, Hollywood-style, for him and Bellingham). He manages to be confident and assured yet also quietly spoken and unaffected, it seems, by stardom.
'From those early days playing together, to now being on the biggest stage, it's been an incredible journey,' said Bellingham, speaking to EA SPORTS. 'Being on the FC cover last year was a massive achievement, and to be alongside Jamal this year — that's something I'll never take for granted.'
In 2017, he and Bellingham posed together for a picture, as team-mates and room-mates for England's under-15s, that would go viral years later when they started competing in European Championships and World Cups.
A lot has happened in both their lives since then and, in Musiala's case, that involved switching to Germany's national team, shortly before his 18th birthday, to play for the country of his birth.
'It wasn't an easy decision,' said the former England Under-21 international. 'I still have a lot of love for England and a lot of my closest friends are from there. But it was a decision that me and my family made together.
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'It could have gone either way but, in the end, we made a good decision. It felt right, but that doesn't mean the love I have for England has ever gone away.'
Since then, Musiala has made 40 appearances for Germany, establishing himself as one of the most watchable players in international football — quick feet, supreme balance and an almost old-fashioned desire to go past opponents.
'As a kid, the players I loved watching were the ones who brought me joy and excitement. That was the kind of player I wanted to be. I just want to be on the ball. To be free, have fun, enjoy myself and have the skill and technique to dribble past players.'
At school in England, Musiala liked to play chess. He liked how you had to think one step ahead and that, just like on a football pitch, it required an appreciation of space to work out what his opponent might do.
Don't be fooled, though, by the slight frame, the nimble feet and the tricks and turns. Behind that polite, boyish exterior, there are competitive fires smouldering behind Musiala's eyes. And they never burn more brightly than when the subject turns to Bayern's status as 34-time German champions and, as such, the exceedingly high expectations to deliver silverware every season.
Ask Musiala to name the best footballer he has ever played with and he identifies the man who, perhaps more than anyone, epitomises the attitude that winning for Bayern is a necessity, not an option.
'I will give that to Thomas Muller,' Musiala said of the player who has just ended his 25-year association with Bayern.
'I've learned so much from him — so many little bits of advice — and I've had so much fun playing with him. There are so many players I could say, but Thomas is at the top.'
And his hardest opponent?
Musiala needed a few seconds to decide before nominating Antonio Rudiger, his Germany team-mate. 'We played against Real Madrid in the Champions League and that was quite tough,' he recalled. 'I've known him for quite a few years. And, yeah, it's not nice to play against him.'
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Briefly, there was a moment of self-reflection from Musiala and an admission that 'in big games, I still feel I can take an extra step forward'.
Others might think he is being a little unfair on himself, especially given his standout performances for Germany at Euro 2024. Maybe, though, this is just a key part of what it takes to be an elite player: never to be satisfied, always to want more.
Last season, Bayern re-established themselves as Bundesliga champions for the 12th time in 13 seasons, having lost out the previous year for the first time in over a decade.
'That was hard,' said Musiala, recalling the title triumph of Bayer Leverkusen in 2023-24. 'As soon as I broke through at Bayern, in and around all these great players, I realised what was needed to play for the club and what was expected of you. So that (disappointment) gave us that extra push we needed last season.
'We knew we needed to do a lot more to get back on the stage, lifting the trophy. That's what we did. And now we are champions again, we will have to play with even more hunger next season. Because that feeling of lifting the trophy is something we want again.'
As he uttered these words, Musiala sounded bright, positive, and very much up for the challenge.
Nobody could have foreseen the misfortune that would come his way on a football field in Atlanta, Georgia, 12 days before his big announcement. It is a sport of exhilarating highs and excruciating lows. But he will be back on our screens soon, as a footballer and a cover star.
EA SPORTS FC 26 will be released on September 26
(Illustration: Kelsea Petersen / The Athletic; Frederico Parra / Getty, Daniel Kopatsch / Getty, Alex Grimm / Getty)