Germany announce squad for 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Luxembourg & Northern Ireland; Nico Schlotterbeck recalled

Die Mannschaft are shockingly third in a World Cup qualifier group that has Slovakia, Northern Ireland and Luxembourg.

Germany’s coach, Julian Nagelsmann, made six adjustments to his 24-man roster ahead of the World Cup qualifiers in October. He dropped forward, Niclas Fuellkrug and brought back centre-back Nico Schlotterbeck.

Nagelsmann responded to a lacklustre performance in Germany’s September games by bringing back Schlotterbeck. The defender just made his comeback to Borussia Dortmund‘s starting lineup following a six-month layoff due to a knee injury.

The centre-back will “definitely be there and he deserves to be,” Nagelsmann stated.

Right-back Ridle Baku, midfielders Aleksander Pavlovic and Felix Nmecha, forward Jonathan Burkardt, and defender Nathaniel Brown of Eintracht Frankfurt were all picked up for the first time.

Antonio Rudiger, Germany’s starting centre back, is injured.

Fuellkrug has yet to score or provide an assist this season for Premier League side West Ham.

Nnamdi Collins of Frankfurt, who made a poor start for his country in the 2-0 loss to Slovakia in September, was one of the other players not called up.

“Two wins — that’s our clear goal to qualify for the World Cup directly,” Nagelsmann said in a statement.

“Even though we’ll still be missing some players, we’re convinced that our squad has the quality to do better than last time.”

Germany squad for the October international break

Goalkeepers: Oliver Baumann (Hoffenheim), Finn Dahmen (Augsburg), Alexander Nuebel (Stuttgart)

Defenders: Robert Andrich (Bayer Leverkusen), Waldemar Anton (Borussia Dortmund), Ridle Baku (RB Leipzig), Nathaniel Brown (Eintracht Frankfurt), Robin Koch (Eintracht Frankfurt), David Raum (RB Leipzig), Nico Schlotterbeck (Borussia Dortmund), Jonathan Tah (Bayern Munich)

Midfielders: Karim Adeyemi (Borussia Dortmund), Nadiem Amiri (Mainz), Serge Gnabry (Bayern Munich), Leon Goretzka (Bayern Munich), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Jamie Leweling (Stuttgart), Felix Nmecha (Borussia Dortmund), Aleksandar Pavlovic (Bayern Munich), Angelo Stiller (Stuttgart), Florian Wirtz (Liverpool/ENG)

Forwards: Maximilian Beier (Borussia Dortmund), Jonathan Burkardt (Eintracht Frankfurt), Nick Woltemade (Newcastle/ENG)

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