From Knauff to Saint-Maximin
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The DFB is concerned with the topic of changing associations and managing director Andreas Rettig has brought training compensation into play if a talent wants to play for a different senior national team than the one for which he went through the U-teams. Some associations are now pursuing a nomination strategy that deliberately targets such players and in cases like Curaçao or Cape Verde this has led to participation in the 2026 World Cup. For other countries it might also be worth taking a look at the professionals who have never been a national team player in their home country and who have a second passport. Transfermarkt took over the job and searched the database.
Among the players who have little or probably no chance of taking part in the 2026 World Cup for their home country, there are also many who are active in Germany. Ghana, where Derrick Köhn (26) has just made his debut, is currently heavily recruiting DFB talent. Now the Black Stars are also targeting Köhn’s Union colleague and U21 national player Ilyas Ansah (21). The most valuable Bundesliga professional who has never been a senior national player and could also play for Ghana is winger Ansgar Knauff (23) from Eintracht Frankfurt with a market value of 15 million euros. This would make him one of the five most valuable players in national coach Otto Addo’s team. Just like Chelsea defender Josh Acheampong (19), who plays for England U21 and also has a Ghanaian passport. Knauff had ruled out a move to the Ghanaian association a year ago – it is unclear whether that has changed since then.
An overview of who would be eligible to play for Ghana can be found in the detailed search on Transfermarkt – there you can use various filters to search for, for example, second nationalities and players with “non-national player” status. It becomes clear: The potential for Addo’s team is great. In addition to those mentioned, there would also be Bayer’s Ernest Poku (21), who could also play for Germany, his Oranje U21 colleague Jayden Addai (20, Como), Cologne striker Ragnar Ache (27) or the German U-national players Joshua Quarshie (21), Justin Diehl (20), Hendry Blank (21), Farid Alfa-Ruprecht (19), Kofi Amoako (20), Charles Herrmann (19) and Benjamin Boakye (20) in question. With a strong second half of the season at 1. FC Heidenheim, Sirlord Conteh could also be in Addo’s focus – before that, the fast winger has to heal from his torn meniscus.
Ivory Coast could send eleven French juniors to the World Cup
The Ivory Coast could almost field its own eleven made up of players with second nationalities. Emerse Faé’s squad around Leipzig’s Yan Diomande (19) is anyway – based on the nominations for November, where some national players are traditionally missing – one of the 15 most valuable in the World Cup, but still has much more potential. Of course, French national team players like Leny Yoro (20, Man United, market value: 55 million euros), Guillaume Restes (20, Toulouse, 20 million), Joane Gadou (18, Salzburg, 15 million), Eli Kroupi (19, Bournemouth, 15 million), Kader Meïté (18, Rennes, 8 million) or Axel Tape (18, Bayer, 8 million) first decide to change the dressing. It is questionable whether these talents will decide to change associations before they realize that their prospects with the World Cup favorites from France are limited in the medium term.
No longer playing for the French juniors are Ange-Yoan Bonny (22, Inter, 23 million), Ismaël Doukouré (22, Strasbourg, 18 million), Elye Wahi (22, SGE, 18 million) and Félix Lemaréchal (22, Strasbourg, 10 million) – they would all be among the 23 most valuable players for the Ivorians. Just like Oumar Solet (25, Udinese, 18 million) or Yann Gboho (24, Toulouse, 10 million), for whom the French train has probably left for the time being. The West African association has already courted Bundesliga starter Karim Coulibaly (18) from Werder Bremen. The central defender recently played for the German U19, but according to “Bild”, he feels very connected to his parents’ home country. Whether HSV promotion guarantor Jean-Luc Dompé is still an option at the age of 30? Faé assistant Guy Demel, also an ex-Hamburg resident, confirmed this to “Bild” a good year ago. Maybe Dompé will jump on the World Cup bandwagon.
Players who would be eligible to play for other African countries also face the same question as Yoro, Restes and Co., whether they wait for a nomination for France or rely on their second nationality: Khalis Merah (18, Lyon, 6 million) for Algeria, Ayyoub Bouaddi (18, Lille, 30 million) for Morocco or Jaydee Canvot (19, Crystal Palace, 20 million) and Andy Diouf (22, Inter, 18 million) for Senegal. Haiti, which is taking part in the finals for the second time, could also benefit from French training. Wolves midfielder Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, whose market value is 18 million euros, is by far the Caribbean island nation’s most valuable national player and was born in France. Like the 27-year-old, Wilson Isidor (25, Sunderland, 15 million), Odsonne Édouard (27, Lens, 6 million) and the former Hanoverian Allan Saint-Maximin (28, America, 13 million) probably have no chance of being called up for France. They could possibly take part in the World Cup for Haiti.
Curaçao and Cape Verde, on the other hand, have almost exhausted their potential, at least as things stand. Former Bundesliga professionals and Dutch natives Tahith Chong (25), Riechedly Bazoer (29) and Joshua Brenet (31) helped the former to take part in their first World Cup. In addition, a few other young Dutchmen have the passport of the Caribbean island and it is unclear whether they will later play for Oranje: Mimeirhel Benita (22, Heracles), Elijah Dijkstra (19, Utrecht) and Fabian Merién (17, PSV). The most valuable players that Cape Verde has not yet nominated are Leonardo Lopes (26, KAA Gent) with 3.5 million euros, Thierry Correia (26, Valencia) with 3 million and Chiquinho (25, Alverca) with 2 million euros market value.
In addition to the obvious possibilities, which primarily stem from the colonial past of European countries, there are still some players for whom the existing second passport might not have been immediately expected. The Austrian U21 national player Christopher Olivier (19) from the second team of VfB Stuttgart would also be eligible to play for South Africa. Gladbach talent Kilian Sauck (18) could play for Curaçao, the Italian Cristian Volpato (22, Sassuolo) for Australia, Sweden’s U21 national goalkeeper Elis Bishesari (20, IFK Göteborg) for Iran, Racing defender Santiago Sosa (26) and Lens playmaker Adrien Thomasson (31) for Croatia or the Spanish U21 national player Matías Fernández-Pardo (20, Lille) for Belgium.
Change of association for the World Cup? From Wanner to Weiser to Backhaus
Austria and Scotland, who qualified for the first time since 1998, could significantly increase in squad value: Ralf Rangnick’s team if the previous German U21 international Paul Wanner (19, PSV) decides for the ÖFB, as does the former Portuguese junior Tomás Handel (24, Red Star). Together, the two professionals have a market value of 28 million euros. Among the Scots, the English-born Archie Gray (19, Tottenham) and Hayden Hackney (23, Middlesbrough) would even slip into the top five most valuable players with 35 million and 20 million euros respectively.
Other footballers who are or were active in Germany and who could theoretically jump on a World Cup bandwagon include Union’s Rani Khedira (31), who had already canceled Tunisia before the 2022 World Cup, Jeremy Toljan (31, Levante), Maurice Malone (25, Sturm Graz), Anrie Chase (21, Salzburg) and top talent Alexander Staff (17, SGE) at the United States. Also candidates are Cajetan Lenz (19, Bochum) at Switzerland, Santiago Castañeda (21, Paderborn) at both the USA and Colombia, or Soufiane El-Faouzi (23, Schalke) and Younes Ebnoutalib (22, Elversberg). The latter also have a Moroccan passport, as do the talented Wael Mohya (16, Gladbach) and Fayssal Harchaoui (19, Cologne).
It is unclear whether the Algerian door will open again for Bremen’s long-term injured Mitchell Weiser (31, torn cruciate ligament). He himself had pushed for the association change, but was not appointed by national coach Vladimir Petkovic a good year ago. Japan would probably like to invite Weiser’s teammate and U21 national goalkeeper Mio Backhaus. The 21-year-old recently said that this decision had to feel right to him, otherwise he wouldn’t make it. With Shinta Appelkamp (25, Düsseldorf), another former DFB junior could be considered for the Samurai Blue.