The 2026–27 season is the 123rd season in the history of SC Freiburg and the club’s eleventh consecutive season in the Bundesliga. In addition to the domestic league, the club also participates in the DFB-Pokal and the UEFA Europa League.
Freiburg has never won the Bundesliga title or the DFB-Pokal, but it has earned promotion to the top flight on four occasions through 2. Bundesliga titles. Additionally, Freiburg reached the DFB-Pokal final in the 2021–22 season, marking their deepest run in the competition.
Within the current SC Freiburg squad, several footballers have publicly shared their personal religious beliefs. Figures like Matthias Ginter, Cyriaque Irié, and Vincenzo Grifo are well-known Christians.
Read below all the players in SC Freiburg and their religious beliefs. Please contact us if you see any mistakes or errors regarding a specific player’s religion.
Table of Contents
Mio Backhaus Religion
Mio Backhaus is a German professional footballer who has not publicly shared details about his specific religious beliefs.
Backhaus joined the Werder Bremen youth team in 2018, having previously been at Alemannia Aachen. From July 2023 to June 2024, he was loaned to Eredivisie club FC Volendam, where he impressed and was named Goalkeeper of the Season.
Backhaus joined SC Freiburg from SV Werder Bremen ahead of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season. The clubs officially confirmed the deal on May 23, 2026, making Backhaus a record signing for Freiburg with a reported transfer fee of €15 million and a contract running through 2031.
Matthias Ginter Religion
Matthias Ginter is a German professional footballer who is a practicing Christian. He is a member of the Roman Catholic Church.
Ginter began his career with SV March before he moved to the youth squad of SC Freiburg for the 2005–06 season. With the under-19 team, he won the Under-19 DFB-Pokal in 2011 and 2012. In 2014, he transferred to Borussia Dortmund, where he won the 2016–17 DFB-Pokal. He then joined Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2017 for a reported €17 million before returning to Freiburg on a free transfer in 2022.
Internationally, Ginter was named as the youngest player in Germany’s 23-man squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which went on to win the tournament, although he did not enter the field of play at any point.
Jan-Niklas Beste Religion
Jan-Niklas Beste is a German professional footballer who has not publicly discussed his religious beliefs.
Beste plays as a left-back or winger for SC Freiburg. He previously played for several European clubs, including Borussia Dortmund, Werder Bremen, FC Emmen, Jahn Regensburg, 1. FC Heidenheim, and Benfica.
On 31 January 2025, Beste returned to the Bundesliga to join SC Freiburg in a permanent deal worth an estimated €8 million. His contract with Freiburg runs until 30 June 2030.
Cyriaque Irié Religion
Cyriaque Irié is a Burkinabé professional footballer who is a devout Christian. He openly shares his faith on his official Instagram profile, where his bio features Christian tags alongside the statement “JÉSUS SAVES ✝️.”
Irié signed for French club Dijon in 2023, who were competing in Championnat National at the time. A year later, in 2024, Irié signed for Ligue 2 side Troyes for a reported €3 million.
On 1 July 2025, Irié joined SC Freiburg for an undisclosed fee, though some sources reported the fees to be worth €10 million. He made his competitive Bundesliga debut on August 23, 2025, coming on as a substitute against Augsburg.
Lukas Kübler Religion
Lukas Kübler is a German professional footballer who has not publicly shared details about his specific religious beliefs.
Kübler began his professional career at the Cologne youth team. He transferred to SC Freiburg in 2015 and won the 2. Bundesliga championship with the team in the 2015/2016 season. In October 2022, he scored a goal in a UEFA Europa League group stage match to help Freiburg defeat FC Nantes 4-0.
On 7 May 2026, he netted a brace in a 3–1 win over Braga in the Europa League semi-final second leg, securing his club’s place in the final by winning 4–3 on aggregate.
Maximilian Eggestein Religion
Maximilian Eggestein is a German professional footballer who has not publicly shared details about his specific religious beliefs.
Eggestein began his youth career at TSV Schloß Ricklingen and TSV Havelse before joining Werder Bremen’s academy in 2011. He made his senior debut for Werder Bremen on 29 November 2014.
Eggestein moved to SC Freiburg in August 2021, following Werder Bremen’s relegation from the Bundesliga and after ten years with the club. He subsequently helped the team reach the DFB-Pokal final in the 2021–22 season, where they finished as runners-up. On 10 September 2026, Eggestein signed a contract extension with SC Freiburg.
Igor Matanović Religion
Igor Matanović is a Croatian professional footballer who is a practicing Roman Catholic.
Matanović plays as a striker for SC Freiburg and the Croatia national team. Previously, he played for football clubs FC St. Pauli and Eintracht Frankfurt and had a loan spell at Karlsruher SC. On 9 July 2025, Matanović joined SC Freiburg for a reported transfer fee of €8 million on a four-year contract.
Philipp Lienhart Religion
Philipp Lienhart is an Austrian professional footballer who has stated in interviews that he is not a particularly religious person.
Lienhart began his youth career at local club SC Lilienfeld before joining the academy of Rapid Wien in 2008. In 2014, at age 18, he transferred to Real Madrid’s youth system, featuring for the U19 side in the 2014–15 season and then the reserve team, Castilla, from 2015 to 2017, while also making one appearance for the senior Real Madrid team in a Copa del Rey match on 2 December 2015.
In July 2017, Lienhart was loaned to SC Freiburg for one year. In June 2018, the club announced they had signed him permanently from Real Madrid. The transfer fee was estimated at €2 million plus bonuses.
Yannik Engelhardt Religion
Yannik Engelhardt is a German professional footballer who has not publicly shared details about his specific religious beliefs.
Engelhardt plays as a midfielder for SC Freiburg, and he has previously played football for Werder Bremen, Fortuna Düsseldorf, Como, and Borussia Mönchengladbach. On 18 July 2026, he signed for SC Freiburg for a reported transfer fee of €7 million. A month later, on 30 August, Engelhardt made his debut for the club and scored his first goal against his former loan side, Borussia Mönchengladbach, on September 12.
Derry Scherhant Religion
Derry Scherhant is a German professional footballer who has not publicly disclosed his personal religious beliefs.
Scherhant featured for Hertha BSC’s U19 and reserve teams, scoring 16 goals and 8 assists in 34 matches for the latter in the 2021–22 Regionalliga Northeast. He signed a professional contract with the senior Hertha BSC squad on 17 June 2022 until 2025.
In May 2025, Scherhant joined SC Freiburg from Hertha BSC for a transfer fee of €2 million.
Jordy Makengo Religion
Jordy Makengo is a Congolese professional footballer who has not publicly shared details about his specific religious beliefs.
Makengo began his youth career with US Villejuif before moving to FC Gobelins in 2016 and then AJ Auxerre in 2017 before making his senior debut with the reserve team in the Championnat National 3 during the 2019–20 season. In July 2021, he joined the Freiburg youth team on a free transfer and was promoted to the first team in July 2023, signing a professional contract, and made his Bundesliga debut that season.
Born in France, Makengo is of DR Congolese descent.
Vincenzo Grifo Religion
Vincenzo Grifo is an Italian professional footballer who is a devout Roman Catholic. In 2017, he attended a private audience at the Vatican, where he met Pope Francis.
Grifo began his youth career in local German clubs before joining 1899 Hoffenheim’s academy in 2012. In the summer of 2013, he was officially promoted to the first squad and subsequently spent the next seasons on loan with Dynamo Dresden and FSV Frankfurt. In 2015, Grifo joined SC Freiburg for €1.5 million, where he helped the club to win the 2. Bundesliga title and obtain promotion to the Bundesliga, registering 14 goals and 15 assists in 31 league appearances throughout the 2015–16 season.
After brief spells back at Hoffenheim (2018–2020) and a loan to Borussia Mönchengladbach (2017–2018), Grifo returned to Freiburg in 2019 for a transfer fee of €7 million, becoming the club’s most expensive signing at the time. He received the Bundesliga Fair Play award for the 2021/22 season. On 7 March 2026, he scored a goal in a 3–3 draw with Bayer Leverkusen, reaching his 105th goal for Freiburg and equaling Petersen’s all-time scoring record. Later that month, on 19 March, he found the net in a 5–1 win against Genk in the Europa League round of 16, becoming the club’s all-time leading scorer with 106 goals.
Grifo holds dual German-Italian citizenship, acquired through his birth in Pforzheim, Germany, and his parents’ Italian heritage. His elder brother, Francesco Grifo, is also a professional footballer.
Yuito Suzuki Religion
Yuito Suzuki is a Japanese professional footballer who has not publicly shared details about his specific religious beliefs.
Suzuki plays as an attacking midfielder or a winger for SC Freiburg and the Japan national team. After graduating from Ichiritsu Funabashi High School in 2019, Suzuki began his professional career with Shimizu S-Pulse, joining the club ahead of the 2020 season. In January 2023, he secured a loan move to Ligue 1 side RC Strasbourg Alsace, where he featured in three matches and scored once before returning to Shimizu at the end of the season. In August 2023, he joined Danish Superliga club Brøndby IF on a four-year contract. During his time at Brøndby, he made 43 appearances in the 2024-25 season, contributing 15 goals and 4 assists.
On 20 May 2025, it was announced that Suzuki would join German Bundesliga club SC Freiburg, with the transfer becoming effective on 1 July 2025. Freiburg paid a base fee of €8 million, making him the most expensive sale in Brøndby’s history. On 30 August 2026, Suzuki scored a debut hat-trick for Freiburg, netting in the 29th, 48th, and 55th minutes of a 4–1 home win over Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga.
Philipp Treu Religion
Philipp Treu is a German professional footballer who has not publicly shared details about his specific religious beliefs.
Treu joined the SV Sandhausen youth at the age of 11 and also played youth football for 1. FC Kaiserslautern and RB Leipzig before joining the U17s of SC Freiburg. In June 2023, he joined FC St. Pauli on a free transfer, where he featured in 59 league matches across the 2. Bundesliga and Bundesliga, scoring once and providing assists while contributing to their promotion to the top flight in 2024.
On 30 June 2025, Treu returned to SC Freiburg for a reported €5.5 million. His performances into the 2026–27 season caught the eye of national team coach Jürgen Klopp, earning him his first senior Germany national team call-up in September 2026.
