Leo Neugebauer is set to compete well into the future in VfB colours, with the decathlon world champion, who won the title in September 2025 in Tokyo, extending his contract with VfB Stuttgart’s athletics department. Club president Dietmar Allgaier announced the good news on Saturday afternoon to 60,000 fans at a sold-out MHP Arena before kick-off in the Bundesliga match against Bayern Munich. Neugebauer has also been awarded the gold and ruby service medal, the club’s highest distinction.
“It’s very special for me to continue to be part of the VfB family,” said Neugebauer, who has represented the club since 2023. “I would like to thank the board and Dieter Göggel, as well as the entire athletics department, for their support. We have achieved so much together in recent years, and we’re looking to carry on down this successful path. VfB is part of my roots, and I’m already looking forward to what comes next for me in the decathlon.”
“Leo Neugebauer’s performances and successes are outstanding, and furthermore he is a wonderful ambassador for our colours all around the world,” said VfB president Allgaier. “We are proud to have Leo as part of our club and are delighted that he has decided to stay with VfB Stuttgart. This sends out an important message for our club and for VfB’s reputation of being at the forefront of high-performance athletics in South Germany.”
As well as his decathlon victory at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, Neugebauer impressed on the biggest of stages at the Paris Olympics in 2024, where he took home the silver medal. In doing so he became the first German athlete since Frank Busemann in 1996 to make it onto an Olympic podium in that event. He also set a new German record for the discipline in June 2024 at the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon, with 8,961 points.
Neugebauer was born on 19 June 2000 in Görlitz, Saxony, but grew up in Leinfelden-Echterdingen in Swabia. He competed for the local LG Leinfelden-Echterdingen club until 2023, when he joined VfB’s athletics department. At the same time as forging a career at the top level of his sport, Neugebauer has also been studying economics at the University of Texas in Austin in recent years. He competed there for the Texas Longhorns track and field team, breaking the US college record for the decathlon and winning the Bowerman Trophy for best US college athlete in 2024. He graduated in summer 2024 but has continued to enjoy the facilities in Austin for training purposes.
