Stefan Kuntz’s team are partaking in a training camp in Grassau on Thursday in a bid to prepare for the U21 European Championship in Poland. DFB.de look at the current squad (the final squad will be announced by Kuntz on June 6th) before the team make the journey east.
In net
Stefan Kuntz has opted to select Julian Pollersbeck, Marvin Schwäbe, and Odisseas Vlachodimos in net, all of whom have already played for the Germany U21s.
The majority of the minutes will go to second-tier side Dynamo Dresden’s goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe. The 22-year-old TSG Hoffenheim loanee was between the posts 33 times for Dresden in the season just gone, and has played for every one of Germany’s youth team from the U17s upwards.
Odisseas Vlachodimos has a plethora of experience playing for the youth teams, with his first time in Germany colours coming in a game for the U15s. The 23-year-old is coming off the back of a season with Panathinaikos in which he featured in 21 games, keeping 13 clean-sheets in the process.
Julian Pollersbeck kept the ball out of the back of his net 14 times in 31 games for 2. Bundesliga side 1. FC Kaiserslautern. Pollersbeck made his debut for Die Mannschaft at U21 level, and the 22-year-old has made two appearances for Stefan Kuntz’s side so far.
In defence
Ten defenders are at Kuntz’s disposal, including Niklas Stark (14 U21 appearances), Jeremy Toljan (13 appearances), and Yannick Gerhardt (12 appearances) as the players who have featured the most times for the U21 team.
Hertha BSC’s Niklas Stark earned himself a starting spot with the capital city side, and the 22-year-old played as both a centre-back as well as a defensive-midfielder in the 27 games he featured in this season in what was his fourth Bundesliga campaign. Stark celebrated his greatest achievement so far with the U19s that won the European Championship in 2014.
Another U19 2014 European Championship winner is Marc-Oliver Kempf of SC Freiburg. The 22-year-old has progressed through all the youth teams from the U16s and made his debut for the U21s in March 2017. Kempf struggled with an injury in the first half of the season, but started for SC Freiburg upon his return to collect 13 Bundesliga games under his belt for the campaign.
Stefan Kuntz’s team are partaking in a training camp in Grassau on Thursday in a bid to prepare for the U21 European Championship in Poland. DFB.de look at the current squad (the final squad will be announced by Kuntz on June 6th) before the team make the journey east.
In net
Stefan Kuntz has opted to select Julian Pollersbeck, Marvin Schwäbe, and Odisseas Vlachodimos in net, all of whom have already played for the Germany U21s.
The majority of the minutes will go to second-tier side Dynamo Dresden’s goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe. The 22-year-old TSG Hoffenheim loanee was between the posts 33 times for Dresden in the season just gone, and has played for every one of Germany’s youth team from the U17s upwards.
Odisseas Vlachodimos has a plethora of experience playing for the youth teams, with his first time in Germany colours coming in a game for the U15s. The 23-year-old is coming off the back of a season with Panathinaikos in which he featured in 21 games, keeping 13 clean-sheets in the process.
Julian Pollersbeck kept the ball out of the back of his net 14 times in 31 games for 2. Bundesliga side 1. FC Kaiserslautern. Pollersbeck made his debut for Die Mannschaft at U21 level, and the 22-year-old has made two appearances for Stefan Kuntz’s side so far.
In defence
Ten defenders are at Kuntz’s disposal, including Niklas Stark (14 U21 appearances), Jeremy Toljan (13 appearances), and Yannick Gerhardt (12 appearances) as the players who have featured the most times for the U21 team.
Hertha BSC’s Niklas Stark earned himself a starting spot with the capital city side, and the 22-year-old played as both a centre-back as well as a defensive-midfielder in the 27 games he featured in this season in what was his fourth Bundesliga campaign. Stark celebrated his greatest achievement so far with the U19s that won the European Championship in 2014.
Another U19 2014 European Championship winner is Marc-Oliver Kempf of SC Freiburg. The 22-year-old has progressed through all the youth teams from the U16s and made his debut for the U21s in March 2017. Kempf struggled with an injury in the first half of the season, but started for SC Freiburg upon his return to collect 13 Bundesliga games under his belt for the campaign.
Jeremy Toljan played his first game for Germany with the U17s back in 2010, and he played in all six matches en route to winning a silver medal in the Olympics last year. Toljan has played 20 games for Hoffenheim this season.
Yannick Gerhardt helped VfL Wolfsburg avoid relegation from the Bundesliga, playing 27 times throughout the season and then in both relegation playoff games. The 23-year-old left-footed player has returned to the U21 squad after making his debut with the senior team.
Timo Baumgartl will also be playing in the Bundesliga next season, as he joins the U21 team still on a high after Stuttgart won the league to achieve direct promotion. Despite being sent off in his debut, the 21-year-old has played two more times under Stefan Kuntz, and played in the heart of defence for a VfB Stuttgart side that managed to achieve promotion. The defender has only missed five games in the 2. Bundesliga, owing to a red card and an injury.
Gideon Jung finally managed to break into Hamburg’s starting eleven. The 22-year-old made 29 appearances in what was his second Bundesliga campaign. He celebrated his U21 debut in March 2017 in a friendly against England.
Alongside Jung, Thilo Kehrer has also seen regular playing time in the Bundesliga this year. The Schalke 04 player has started regularly since the turn of the year, and the 20-year-old has played a total of 26 games for Germany since he started with the U16s, including two games for the U21s.
He was at the European Championship with the U19s in 2015, the senior team in 2016, and will now be going for a third time in a row with the U21s. Jonathan Tah has played four times for the U21s so far, and made 19 appearances in the Bundesliga for Bayer Leverkusen, although he missed many games due to injury.
21-year-old 1. FC Köln defender Lukas Klünter was promoted to the senior team on Matchday 27 after gaining valuable playing experience with the U21s in the Regionalliga West. International duty isn’t something totally new for the right-back, who has played a total of ten games for the U19s and U20s.
In midfield and attack
Max Meyer, Davie Selke and Serge Gnabry are three forwards in the squad who featured in the team that picked up a silver medal in the Rio Olympics last year.
With four appearances for the senior time and 19 for the U21s, no player has more experience in the U21 squad than Max Meyer. He’s also won the European Championship with the U17s in 2012, a tournament in which he finished as the top scorer. Meyer has made 27 appearances for FC Schalke 04 in the 2016/17 season.
DFB-Pokal winner, Super Cup winner, and two-time champion with Germany’s youth teams – Maximilian Arnold is still missing a title with the senior team. The Wolfsburg player has played a total of 47 games between U16 and senior level. The 23-year-old just finished his sixth Bundesliga season with VfL Wolfsburg.
Davie Selke’s seven goals in eleven games make him one of the most dangerous goal-threats in the current squad. He’s already won a title for Germany, scoring six goals to finish the tournament as top-scorer as the U19s lifted the European Championship in 2014. Selke has found the back of the net four times for RB Leipzig in 21 games since they made the jump up to the Bundesliga.
1. FSV Mainz 05’s Levin Öztunali was also a part of the U19 side that won the 2014 European Championship. Uwe Seeler’s grandson has scored three times in the eleven games he’s played for the U21s. Öztunali achieved a new personal best by making 30 appearances for the Zerofivers last season.
Serge Gnabry has been exceptional since making the move from Arsenal to SV Werder Bremen, finding the back of the net eleven times in 27 games. The right-footed forward has already displayed how dangerous he is in front of goal during the 2016 Olympics, as he finished the tournament as its top-scorer with six goals. Gnabry has played ten times for the U21s, and twice for the senior team.
Mitchell Weiser‘s playing time at Hertha has been hindered by injury. He appeared 29 times in the Bundesliga the season before last, but played just 17 times last season. Weiser has played for all of the German youth teams from U16s up and has a total of 39 international caps to his name, eight of those for the U21s.
Nadiem Amiri appeared 33 times in his third Bundesliga season. 20 of those were from the start; 13 from the bench. His debut for the U21s came in March 2016 and Amiri has played six further games for the U21s since then.
After three years in Borussia Mönchengladbach’s first team, Mahmoud Dahoud is switching to Borussia Dortmund this summer. Dahoud was a key figure for Gladbach last season. He has played in 61 Bundesliga games for the side from Niederrhein. He managed seven goals and fifteen assists. Dahoud has featured six times for the U21s.
With nine goals in 25 games last season, Maximilian Philipp was one of SC Freiburg’s top scorers. The 23-year-old is still waiting for his first goal for the Germany U21s. He’s goalless in six internationals.
Janik Haberer is also at SC Freiburg. The 23-year-old made his Bundesliga debut last season and featured 32 times in his first season in the top division. Haberer made his Germany U21 debut in 2015 when he was still playing in the German second division for VfL Bochum. He’s scored one goal in six internationals.
He came through the ranks at Bayer Leverkusen, made his Bundesliga breakthrough at FC Augsburg and this summer is returning to his roots: Dominik Kohr was a key player for Augsburg last season. He started 21 times for FCA, and has represented his country since 2011 when he made his international debut for the U18s. He’s featured twice for the Germany U21s.
Felix Platte is appearing in the U21 squad for the first time. Having grown up at Schalke, he was last on loan at Darmstadt. Due to injury, he only appeared nine times for the Lilies last season.
Waldemar Anton was deployed as a centre-back, midfielder and right-back at various times for Hannover 96 in the second division last season. He featured 29 times, only coming off the bench on two occasions. Anton has appeared once for Germany’s U21s. He made his debut in September 2016.
