News (engl.)

Germany head coach Antonio Di Salvo announced his preliminary squad for the European U21 Championship, which will take place between 11th and 28th June in Slovakia, during Thursday’s press conference. 26 players will begin the training camp ahead of the competition before a 23-player squad has to be submitted to UEFA on 4th June.

“There is a great deal of excitement. After two years of qualifying and friendly matches, all the players, coaches and staff are really motivated as we approach the tournament,” explained Di Salvo. “Everyone will receive the chance to again show what they can do at the training camp, while we as a team look to work in detail on any areas for improvement.”

Two goalkeepers have been selected for the first time, namely Nahuel Noll (SpVgg Greuther Fürth) and Johannes Schenk (SC Preußen Münster). They provide support to the established Noah Atubolu and Tjark Ernst, while competing for the third spot between the sticks in the final tournament squad. Di Salvo provided comment: “Nahuel and Johannes are talented keepers who have each caught the eye with their strong displays in the second division.”

Baum and Jeltsch receive first call-ups

A further two debutants in the U21 squad come in the form of SV Elversberg’s Elias Baum and Finn Jeltsch of VfB Stuttgart. “Elias has been featuring consistently in Elversberg, playing his part in SVE’s impressive campaign. Finn has broken through in Stuttgart since his winter transfer, getting minutes at the highest level,” reported Di Salvo, providing basis for the nominations. “Each player has an important final task before heading to our training camp, so we will be following the DFB-Pokal final (Jeltsch) and Bundesliga promotion play-off (Baum) with interest.”

The remainder of the squad called up by Di Salvo consists of regular nominees. “Many players performed well over the course of qualifying, while also steadily developing further due to frequent minutes at club level. In that regard, we are pleased to be able to call on many once again.”

Di Salvo: "fine-tune our team chemistry"

The U21s will begin preparations for the tournament from 26th May until 4th June in Blankenhain. The first of two friendly matches will be played on Sunday, 1st June, against an opponent from the region. The second will take place behind closed doors as Finland (also preparing for the EUROs) visit the Germany national team campus on 5th June. “During our training camp, we want to fine-tune our team chemistry and prepare the squad to be in the best possible physical condition,” said Di Salvo. “We obviously also want to ensure team spirit is high and everyone is excited for the tournament.”

On 8th June, the U21 squad start training at their team base camp in Modra, Slovakia. The young Germans’ opening fixture of the tournament awaits on 12th June, when they take on Slovenia (kick-off 21:00 CEST in Nitra). Czechia form the next opponents on 15th June (21:00 CEST in Dunajska) before Germany face England in their final group stage clash (21:00 CEST in Nitra). The top two teams from each of the four groups qualify for the quarter-final stage. The tournament final is set to be contested on 28th June in Bratislava.