Hoffenheim is the biggest block
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Coach Christian Wörns announced the German squad for the U19 European Championship on Monday. The 21 players born in 2007 come from 14 different clubs. The largest block is made up of U19 champions TSG Hoffenheim, with only one talent active abroad.
The team is led by captain Francis Onyeka (19). With a market value of 10 million euros, only his Leverkusen colleague Montrell Culbreath (18), who is valued at 15 million euros, is more valuable. Along with Herthan’s Boris Mamuzah Lum (18) and Bremen’s Mick Schmetgens (18), the two have the most international matches for the U19 under their belt.
Four players come from Hoffenheim’s ranks: Luca Erlein (18), Luis Engelns (19), Tiago Poller (19) and Jykese Fields (18). With ex-Bayern talent Adin Licina (19), only one DFB junior plays abroad at Juventus Turin. Ben Nink (18) from SV Wehen Wiesbaden is the only one not under contract with a first or second division team.
Wörns will have to remove a goalkeeper between the posts. In addition to Stuttgart’s Florian Hellstern (18), who should go into the tournament as number one, Enis Kamga (18, Kaiserslautern) and Tom WisFertig (18, Union Berlin) are in the squad.
“There are one or two hardship cases, we would have preferred to take 40 players with us. Unfortunately, we can only nominate 18 field players plus two keepers. We tried to fill the positions twice. But we also take hybrid players who can fill two or three positions,” explained Wörns. “I am particularly sorry for players who have taken part in training courses more frequently over the past two years but are now unable to attend due to injuries.” This applies to the Frankfurt quartet Alexander Staff (17), Alessandro Gaul Souza (18), Eba Bekir Is (17) and Nilo Neuendorff (19) or to Wolfsburg’s U19 captain Till Neininger (19).
Wörns has clear expectations for DFB juniors at the U19 European Championships
The DFB juniors will face Denmark (June 28th), hosts Wales (July 1st) and record winners Spain (July 4th) in Group B at the U19 European Championships. The tournament runs from June 28th to July 11th and takes place in North Wales at four venues: Wrexham, Bangor, Caernarfon and Denbigh. All of the German team’s games will be shown on RTL+ and live and free of charge on YouTube on RTL Sport.
For coach Wörns’ team, it is also about a ticket to the U20 World Cup in 2027 in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. The four semi-finalists are guaranteed to take part. The two third-placed teams in the group phase can still secure a place via an intercontinental playoff. “The four semi-finalists qualify for the U20 World Cup. For us, this is a worthwhile goal. We are approaching the European Championships with appropriate motivation and full of anticipation for the games against strong international opponents,” were Wörn’s clear expectations.