He found out about his nomination while on vacation
Nagelsmann asked the DFB star if he was drunk
June 10, 2026 – 9:47 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
It was only after Lennart Karl was injured that Assan Ouédraogo made it into the German World Cup squad. Now the Leipziger reported how he found out about his nomination.
William Laing reports from the DFB team headquarters in Winston-Salem
It was only at the last second that Assan Ouédraogo jumped on the German national team’s World Cup train. The 20-year-old benefited from the injury to Lennart Karl, who tore a muscle bundle in his left thigh during the final training session before the final friendly against the USA in Chicago (2-1) and therefore missed the tournament. National coach Julian Nagelsmann therefore nominated Ouédraogo a few days ago – and achieved this while on holiday in Marbella, Spain.
On Wednesday at the DFB headquarters in Winston-Salem, the midfielder gave an insight into the moment of the call from the DFB coach. “I was actually lying on the lounger and was incredibly chilling with my boys,” Ouédraogo said at a press conference. “Then the call came and I went straight from 0 to 180.”
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Afterwards he “ran around the corner so that no one could hear me,” said the former Schalke player. Nagelsmann then explained to him that he would nominate him for Karl. He was “incredibly happy about that,” said Ouédraogo and admitted that the national coach asked him a juicy question shortly afterwards.
“Then he asked me if I was drunk,” reported the DFB professional. “But I don’t drink either way.” He told Nagelsmann directly that everything was fine. “And then I flew over immediately.”
“I didn’t even know what to do”
Ouédraogo also revealed on Wednesday who first found out about his nomination from his private environment. “My first call was to my mother, she didn’t answer,” he said. His father didn’t pick up the phone either. “The first person who actually found out was my big sister and the people who were next to me at the moment.”