Stefan Ortega Moreno (born 6 November 1992) is a German professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

er who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier League club

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

Early life

Stefan Ortega was born in

Hofgeismar Hofgeismar () is a town in the Kassel (district), district of Kassel, in northern Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km north of Kassel on the German Timber-Frame Road. In 1978 and in 2015, the town hosted the 18th ''Hessentag'' state festival. ...

, Hesse. His father is Spanish and his mother is German.

Club career

Germany

Ortega began his career at the north

Hessian A Hessian is an inhabitant of the German state of Hesse. Hessian may also refer to: Named from the toponym *Hessian (soldier), eighteenth-century German regiments in service with the British Empire **Hessian (boot), a style of boot **Hessian f ...

club TSV Jahn Calden before transferring to

KSV Baunatal KSV Baunatal is a German association football club based in Baunatal, Hesse. The team was founded on 13 April 1964 out of the union of ''KSV Altenritte'' and ''KSV Altenbauna''. The club's greatest success has been its three seasons spent in th ...

, then to KSV Hessen Kassel. In 2007, he transferred to

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia offers the sports of ...

and became a part of their youth setup. In the 2010–11 Season he had six appearances for the B team competing in the Regionalliga West. One year later the first team called him, and he made his senior debut for Arminia on 1 October 2011 against

1. FC Heidenheim 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 is a German association football club from the city of Heidenheim, Baden-Württemberg. History The current day club was formed in 2007 through the separation of the football section from parent association ''Heidenheimer ...

replacing the injured Patrick Platins. After a bad performance against rivals Preußen Münster, Ortega lost his place to the Platins, instead appearing primarily in the regional Westfalenpokal. Nevertheless, Ortega was part of the Arminia squad that achieved promotion to the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

at the end of the 2012–13 season, subsequently agreeing to a two-year contract extension. In June 2014, Ortega joined TSV 1860 Munich on a free transfer. He made his Münchner Lions debut in the 1st round of the

2014–15 DFB-Pokal The 2014–15 DFB-Pokal was the 72nd season of the annual German football cup competition. It began on 15 August 2014 with the first of six rounds and ended on 30 May 2015 with the final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. Bayern Munich were the two ...

, winning 2–1 over Holstein Kiel. After

Gábor Király Gábor Ferenc Király (; born 1 April 1976) is a Hungarian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. In his 25-year-long playing career, Király spent most of his career in Germany and England. He signed for Hertha BSC in 199 ...

departed in August 2014, Ortega established himself as first-choice goalkeeper. 1860 Munich were relegated at the end of the 2016–17 season; Ortega left the club, transferring back to Arminia on a three-year contract, succeeding the outgoing Wolfgang Hesl. In January 2020, Ortega extended his contract until June 2022 following transfer interest from Bundesliga club

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

. With Arminia Bielefeld, Ortega was promoted to the Bundesliga in 2020. At his first season in the Bundesliga, the club secured 15th-place finish and avoided relegation after a 2–0 win in the away match against VfB Stuttgart on the final matchday. The German football magazine Kicker rated Ortega as the second best goalkeeper in the league. Arminia Bielefeld were relegated from the Bundesliga the following season.

Manchester City

In July 2022, Ortega signed with Premier League champions

on a free transfer. He started the season on the bench for City's 1–3 defeat to Liverpool in the

FA Community Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

on 30 July. Ortega played his first match in a UEFA Champions League group stage match against Borussia Dortmund, which finished 0–0. He also played the next Champions League group stage match against Sevilla, which they won 3–1 and in the third round of the

Carabao Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

against Chelsea, making crucial saves to result in a 2–0 win to City on 9th November at the Etihad Stadium.

International career

In fall 2010, Ortega was called up to the German U19 national team, but remained an unused substitute. On 21 May 2021, he was nominated as a potential reserve for the Germany national team for UEFA Euro 2020. His call-up for the squad was contingent if Manuel Neuer, Bernd Leno or

Kevin Trapp Kevin Christian Trapp (; born 8 July 1990) is a German professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt and the Germany national team. He began his professional career at 1. FC Kaiserslautern, where he ...

had to withdraw due to injury.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ortega, Stefan 1992 births Living people People from Hofgeismar Sportspeople from Kassel (region) Footballers from Hesse German footballers Association football goalkeepers Arminia Bielefeld players TSV 1860 Munich players Manchester City F.C. players 3. Liga players 2. Bundesliga players Bundesliga players German expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England German expatriate sportspeople in England German people of Spanish descent