Preparations for the 2016 European Championship in France go up a gear today as the World Champions take on Slovakia in their penultimate friendly ahead of the tournament. The benefit match for the DFB and league association’s various foundations kicks off in Augsburg at 17:45 CEST and we’ve got all the facts and figures.
Chance: The friendly against Slovakia offers all of the players in the provisional squad the final chance to make their case for a seat on the plan in a match setting. Head coach Joachim Löw has until 23:59 CEST on Tuesday to name his final squad, which means four players from the current 27-man selection will miss out.
Record I: Sunday’s game will be Germany’s 910th international fixture. The record since that opening 5-3 loss to Switzerland on 5th April 1908 is 528 wins, 183 draws and 198 losses, while scoring 2,043 goals and conceding 1,082. 919 different players have been capped in that time, with Jonathan Tah the most recent debutant in the meeting with England.
Record II: The clash with Slovakia will be Joachim Löw’s 130th in the dugout. Germany have won 86 games since he took charge in August 2006, drawing 22 and losing 21. The manager has used 103 different players in those games and has handed 78 Germans their senior international debut. Four more look set to join that list on Sunday in the form of Bernd Leno, Julian Brandt (both Bayer Leverkusen), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern München) and Julian Weigl (Borussia Dortmund).
Record III: This will be the tenth meeting with Slovakia since 27th August 1939. Germany have won seven of the nine so far, losing the other two. The only two competitive clashes came in qualifying for EURO 2008, with Die Mannschaft winning both matches. The most recent meeting on 6th June 2007 ended in a 2-1 Germany victory. Thomas Hitzlsperger scored the winning goal with his head in the 43rd minute of that European qualifier.
Record players: Still leading the way in this regard is Lothar Matthäus. The former World Footballer of the Year won 150 caps for Germany between 1980 and 2000. Of the still active players, Lukas Podolski is next in the list with 127 appearances, followed by captain Bastian Schweinsteiger who has featured for Die Mannschaft 114 times.
Record goalscorers: Germany’s all-time goalscoring charts are topped by Miroslav Klose, who netted 71 times, three more than Gerd Müller (68). However, Der Bomber only needed 62 caps for his tally, while Klose had notched 137 appearances when he retired from international football. Lukas Podolski (48), Thomas Müller (31) and Mario Gomez (26) are the top scorers in the current squad.
Opponents I: Slovakia finished second in Group C behind defending European Champions Spain, thus qualifying for the tournament finals for the first time as an independent country. After winning six games in a row, Slovakia had a chance of topping their group, even handing Spain their first qualifying defeat since October 2006. They confirmed their place in France thanks to a 4-2 win over Luxembourg on the final matchday, while their top scorer in qualifying was SSC Napoli’s Marek Hamšík with five goals.
Preparations for the 2016 European Championship in France go up a gear today as the World Champions take on Slovakia in their penultimate friendly ahead of the tournament. The benefit match for the DFB and league association’s various foundations kicks off in Augsburg at 17:45 CEST and we’ve got all the facts and figures.
Chance: The friendly against Slovakia offers all of the players in the provisional squad the final chance to make their case for a seat on the plan in a match setting. Head coach Joachim Löw has until 23:59 CEST on Tuesday to name his final squad, which means four players from the current 27-man selection will miss out.
Record I: Sunday’s game will be Germany’s 910th international fixture. The record since that opening 5-3 loss to Switzerland on 5th April 1908 is 528 wins, 183 draws and 198 losses, while scoring 2,043 goals and conceding 1,082. 919 different players have been capped in that time, with Jonathan Tah the most recent debutant in the meeting with England.
Record II: The clash with Slovakia will be Joachim Löw’s 130th in the dugout. Germany have won 86 games since he took charge in August 2006, drawing 22 and losing 21. The manager has used 103 different players in those games and has handed 78 Germans their senior international debut. Four more look set to join that list on Sunday in the form of Bernd Leno, Julian Brandt (both Bayer Leverkusen), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern München) and Julian Weigl (Borussia Dortmund).
Record III: This will be the tenth meeting with Slovakia since 27th August 1939. Germany have won seven of the nine so far, losing the other two. The only two competitive clashes came in qualifying for EURO 2008, with Die Mannschaft winning both matches. The most recent meeting on 6th June 2007 ended in a 2-1 Germany victory. Thomas Hitzlsperger scored the winning goal with his head in the 43rd minute of that European qualifier.
Record players: Still leading the way in this regard is Lothar Matthäus. The former World Footballer of the Year won 150 caps for Germany between 1980 and 2000. Of the still active players, Lukas Podolski is next in the list with 127 appearances, followed by captain Bastian Schweinsteiger who has featured for Die Mannschaft 114 times.
Record goalscorers: Germany’s all-time goalscoring charts are topped by Miroslav Klose, who netted 71 times, three more than Gerd Müller (68). However, Der Bomber only needed 62 caps for his tally, while Klose had notched 137 appearances when he retired from international football. Lukas Podolski (48), Thomas Müller (31) and Mario Gomez (26) are the top scorers in the current squad.
Opponents I: Slovakia finished second in Group C behind defending European Champions Spain, thus qualifying for the tournament finals for the first time as an independent country. After winning six games in a row, Slovakia had a chance of topping their group, even handing Spain their first qualifying defeat since October 2006. They confirmed their place in France thanks to a 4-2 win over Luxembourg on the final matchday, while their top scorer in qualifying was SSC Napoli’s Marek Hamšík with five goals.
Opponents II: With 784 points on the board, Slovakia sit 32nd in the FIFA world rankings. The EURO debutants secured a 3-1 friendly win over Georgia on Friday, following on from two successive draws for Jan Kozak’s side (2-2 against Ireland, 0-0 against Latvia). There are currently two Bundesliga players in Slovakia’s squad in the form of Hertha’s Peter Pekarik and Köln’s Dusan Svento.
Kits: Die Mannschaft will wear their white home shirts and black shorts, while the visitors from Slovakia will sport all-blue kits.
