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World Cup winning goalscorer Mario Gotze has been named in the Germany squad for Qatar despite not playing for his country for five years.
The 30-year-old, who has been in impressive form for Eintracht Frankfurt this season, scored the only goal of Germany’s 2014 final victory over Argentina.
Manager Hansi Flick announced his squad on November 10.
Dortmund’s 17-year-old striker Youssoufa Moukoko has also been included, but his veteran team-mate Mats Hummels did not make the cut.
Chelsea’s Kai Havertz, Manchester City’s Ilkay Gundogan, Southampton’s Armel Bella-Kotchap and West Ham’s Thilo Kehrer are the English-based players in the squad.
Ex-Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger and former England under-21 midfielder Jamal Musiala are also going to the tournament.
RB Leipzig’s Timo Werner, formerly of Chelsea, and Dortmund captain Marco Reus, miss out through injury.
Germany World Cup 2022 squad
Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Kevin Trapp
Defenders: Armel Bella-Kotchap, Matthias Ginter, Christian Gunter, Thilo Kehrer, Lukas Klostermann, David Raum, Antonio Rudiger, Nico Schlotterbeck, Niklas Sule
Midfielders: Julian Brandt, Niklas Füllkrug, Leon Goretzka, Mario Götze, Ilkay Gundogan, Jonas Hofmann, Joshua Kimmich, Jamal Musiala
Forwards: Karim Adeyemi, Serge Gnabry, Kai Havertz, Youssoufa Moukoko, Thomas Müller, Leroy Sané
Who are the star names in the squad?
Youssoufa Moukoko broke Cameroonian hearts when the gifted teenager plumped for a spot on the German U16s team over the country where he spent the first ten years of his life, but Germany have certainly rewarded what might have been a challenging decision for Moukoko.
To say Moukoko is a wunderkind almost too easy – last year, on his debut, he became the youngest-ever scorer for the Germany U21 team, and only fourteen months later, he graduates to the senior team. Dortmund rely heavily on him, with Moukoko making 22 appearances already this season in all competitions, which have yielded ten goal contributions.
The opening ceremony will fall on Moukoko’s 18th birthday – becoming one of the competition’s youngest-ever goalscorers would make a fitting gift.
What’s Germany’s form been like?
Hansi Flick’s team will want to make up for their humiliating group-stage exit at Russia 2018 when the 2022 World Cup in Qatar comes around.
Die Mannschaft topped their qualifying group with nine wins out of 10 and became the first team to book their spot through the qualification process. Their only defeat came against North Macedonia which was the first time they had lost in the qualifiers since 2001. The Fifa world rankings currently have them in 11th, sandwiched between Denmark and Croatia.
Flick will compete in his first major tournament as Germany head coach. The former Bayern Munich manager assisted his predecessor Joachim Löw for eight years between 2006 and 2014.
After drawing 3-3 with England at Wembley Stadium in the Nations League, Germany have just one more game – a friendly with Oman on November 16 – before they kick off their World Cup campaign.
Off the pitch
The country has recently been embroiled in a diplomatic incident with the hosts following comments made by Germany’s Interior Minister, Nancy Faeser. Qatar summoned the German ambassador to explain comments Faeser had made on German television, calling the decision to hold the tournament in the Gulf state “very difficult”.
In an interview with German newspaper the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Qatar’s foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani decried Germany’s “double standards”.
“On the one side, the German population is misinformed by government politicians,” Al-Thani said. “On the other, the government has no problem with us when it comes to energy partnerships or investments.”
Fans of Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, and Hertha Berlin staged protests against the competition at matches on the penultimate Bundesliga weekend before the winter break.
What are Germany’s fixtures?
What is Germany’s World Cup record?
Germany are one of the most successful teams at the World Cup. They have won the tournament four times (1954, 1974, 1990, 2014) and have appeared in a total of eight finals.
At the Russia World Cup in 2018 it was a shock that Germany failed to advance past the group stage. They crashed out after losing 2-0 to South Korea leaving them bottom of Group F.
Argentina | Australia | Belgium | Brazil | Cameroon | Canada | Costa Rica | Croatia | Denmark | Ecuador | England | France | Germany | Ghana | Iran | Japan | Mexico | Morocco | Netherlands | Poland | Portugal | Qatar | Saudi Arabia | Senegal | Serbia | South Korea | Spain | Switzerland | Tunisia | Uruguay | USA | Wales
Latest odds
Back Germany in their World Cup matches with these betting offers and free bets
Germany are currently a best price of 10/1 to win World Cup 2022.
Other leading contenders…
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Brazil 4/1
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Argentina 11/2
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France 6/1
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England 8/1
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Spain 17/2
Information correct as of November 13
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