The 2026 World Cup is only now really entering its crucial phase, and some of FC Bayern’s stars have already been eliminated. This is a huge disappointment for these players and could have repercussions. Defender Josip Stanisic has now spoken out about it.
He is, in fact, one of the players who has already had to pack it in. Stanisic was eliminated in the round of 32 with his Croatian national team in a razor-thin loss to Portugal. The large German squad featuring Manuel Neuer, Jamal Musiala, and Joshua Kimmich has also already headed home.
Croatia, in particular—which had bad luck with the draw—and Germany had set their sights much higher. That Konrad Laimer and Austria would fall to Spain, or that Hiroki Ito and Japan would lose to Brazil, was to be expected.
Will the World Cup exit have an impact on the new season?
Despite everything, being eliminated from such a major tournament always takes some time to process. After a long season, this can also have an impact on the mental level.
In an interview with *kicker* , Stanisic spoke about his Croatian team’s elimination and, beyond that, about the possible consequences for preseason preparations and the upcoming season.
After the elimination, Stanisic spoke of the “deepest pain” he has ever felt in his career. “Fortunately, I’ve had very few games in my career so far where something was at stake and I lost. Especially with the national team. What Croatia has achieved at the last few World Cups is incredible anyway. Now we’re just going home feeling empty,” said the Bayern star.
Meanwhile, the defender isn’t worried about major repercussions for Bayern Munich’s upcoming season: “I think everyone’s going on vacation for now. It’s not the first defeat we’ve experienced. You have to learn to deal with it, do better next time, and then put it behind you. I don’t think we’ll carry this into the new season. But of course, things could have gone better for all of us.”
