Joe Scally may be just 23-years-old but he is set to etch his name into the history books on Saturday.
Scally is set to make his 150th Bundesliga appearance on Saturday when Borussia Moenchengladbach travels to VfL Wolfsburg. The American fullback will become the youngest non-German player to reach that milestone, continuing what has been a stellar rise into a consistent first-team contributor at Gladbach.
After making the move from New York City FC in January 2021, Scally has quickly shot up the depth chart. Scally has made 30+ appearances or more in each of the last five seasons and most recently scored his fifth goal for the club last weekend.
As he prepares for 32nd appearance of the 2025-26 campaign, Scally voiced his gratefulness to have his continued opportunity abroad.
“It means so much to me,” Scally said in a club interview. “It’s honestly a crazy number to hit, because I’m still only 23 years old. I’m delighted to have been part of this club for such a long time already and to have almost racked up this number of appearances in the Bundesliga.
“The fact that I got the chance to play regular football at such a young age gave me so much confidence, and offered me the opportunity to prove myself at this level and to develop as a player,” he added. “All that has led me to this position, where I’ve already hit this number of games.”
Saturday’s bottom-six clash will see Gladbach try to move further away from the relegation zone, knowing they only have four matches left this spring. Wolfsburg are seven points back of Gladbach in the race to avoid the drop themselves and will be throwing everything they have to earn a home victory.
While the results haven’t gone the way that Scally and his Gladbach teammates would’ve hoped for this season, the veteran defender isn’t nervous about the team’s ability to finish strong.
“It’s definitely an uncomfortable situation,” said Scally. “We all know where we stand right now, how the table is looking and what we still have to do. I’ve been through similar situations in my time here. We have a strong group, and we aren’t feeling nervous. The most important thing across the final few matches will be whether we can reproduce the kind of display we put on in the first half against Mainz, and which we’ve shown we’re capable of in many home games this season.”
Following their trip to Wolfsburg on Saturday, Eugen Polanski’s squad will take on Borussia Dortmund, Augsburg, and Hoffenheim to close their domestic schedule.