U20 Elite League Preview: Germany vs. France
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Germany U20 will play the first of their three U20 Elite League games in this international break on Friday. The annual competition between eight U20 national teams will start with two games as the record winners Italy play England earlier in the same venue – Estadio Olímpico Camilo Cano.
Braces from Keke Topp and Raul Paula helped to a dramatic 4-4 comeback draw for Germany when the two teams last met in 2024. Former French international Bernard Diomède is the current coach of the France U20 national team.
Germany will hope to do better than last season, where they finished second in the standings behind Portugal. The 2024/25 champions will play against Italy and England in the extended international break.
Wolf named a 23-man squad for the three games, while 15 more players were listed in the waiting list. Paris Brunner, who was the competition’s top-scorer with 8 goals in 4 appearances last term, is now with the U21 national team after his excellent start to the season with AS Monaco.
Similarly, Antonio Di Salvo also called up midfielder Noah Darvich for the first time. Wolf still have some of the big names as Kjell-Arik Wätjen, David Odogu, Otto Stange and Max Moerstedt are among those keeping their places.
His squad includes eight players who have featured in the 2-0 defeat to Spain in the U19 Euros back in June. Germany have only lost to Portugal (twice) in last season’s U20 Elite League as they won the remaining six games, including their last four. All three matches in this window are set to be played at La Nucia Stadium before they face Poland and the Czech Republic as a visiting team in November.
Hannes Wolf’s Full Germany U20 Squad
Goalkeepers: Florian Hellstern (Greuther Fürth), Mark Rothenhagen (Holstein Kiel), Timo Schlieck (SC Verl)
Farid Alfa-Ruprecht and Boris Mamuzah Lum (Hertha BSC), Taylan Bulut (Besiktas), Mirza Catovic (Barcelona), Emanuel da Silva Moreira (Excelsior Rotterdam), Paul Erevbenagie, Salim Musah and Mick Schmetgens (Werder Bremen), Luca Erlein (Energie Cottbus), Almugera Kabar (NEC Nijmegen), Cajetan Lenz, Tiago Poller and Max Moerstedt (Hoffenheim), Friedrich Müller (Dynamo Dresden), David Odogu (Toulouse), Rafael Pinto Pedrosa and Danyal Zor (Karlsruhe), Eric Porstner (Nürnberg), Otto Stange (HSV), Kjell-Arik Wätjen (Midtjylland)
