News (engl.)

The U21 side will take on Greece and Northern Ireland in their two EUROs qualifiers during October’s international break, as they look to book their place in the tournament which will take place across Albania and Serbia in 2027. Antonio Di Salvo’s side welcome Nnamdi Collins and Paul Wanner back, as well as three new faces, as they prepare for their first match in Jena against Greece on Friday, 10th October. The second game against Northern Ireland will see the squad travel to Belfast on Tuesday, 14th October.

“Our opponents will present us with a real challenge,” said Di Salvo. “Greece won 5-0 in their opening game and have some great attacking talent in players like former 1. FC Nürnberg player Stefanos Tzimas, now at Brighton, as well as his club teammate Charalampos Kostoulas and Georgios Koutsias from FC Lugano. Our senior side already know how difficult it is to play against Northern Ireland. The 1-1 draw with Georgia and the fact they’re playing at their atmospheric home ground ‘The Oval’ will give them a lot of motivation. We’re going to prepare our team to deal with that and I want to see us go out there and dominate the game. Passion and determination, as well as our love for football, are the things we need to show on the pitch. It won’t be easy, but that’s what we’ll aim to do.”

Backhaus and Jeltsch absent

Nnamdi Collins (Eintracht Frankfurt), an integral part of the side’s EURO 2025 run and recent senior team player, is back with the U21s, as is Paul Wanner (PSV Eindhoven) after a foot injury. Mio Backhaus (SV Werder Bremen) and Finn Jeltsch (VfB Stuttgart) both miss out due to injury.

Di Salvo: “Goalkeeper Leon Wechsel from GKS Tychy, having played really well for the U20s, joins us for the first time, alongside RB Leipzig’s Assan Ouédraogo. I’m glad that Tom Bischof from Bayern München can be with us this time after missing the last few through injury or being otherwise engaged with the senior side or with Bayern.”

EURO 2027 will take place in Albania and Serbia, as the U21s look to book their qualification out of Group F through games against Latvia, Georgia, Greece, Northern Ireland and Malta. The winners of the nine qualification group will get automatic qualification, as will the best second place side, while the remaining eight runners-up will go head-to-head in a playoff round to determine the final four who will qualify. After one matchday, Germany are joint top of Group F with Greece.