In an interview with SWR, DFB captain Joshua Kimmich talks about the upcoming international matches, the World Cup in the summer, the most recent nomination and his ties to his homeland.
After the Bundesliga, there’s time before the national team – and in between there’s still time for SWR Sport: Joshua Kimmich is a man in high demand. One day after his FC Bayern’s 4-0 win against Union Berlin, the 31-year-old Bösinger spoke to SWR Sport on the sidelines of the coaching course at the “Kimmich Academy” in Rottweil about his homeland, the Bundesliga and the DFB team before the World Cup tests against Switzerland (March 27th) and in Stuttgart against Ghana (March 30th).
SWR Sport: Joshua Kimmich, how are you feeling the day after the Bundesliga game with FC Bayern against Union Berlin? Does anything still hurt at 31 years old – or does everything feel as easy as the result sounds?
Joshua Kimmich: It actually feels good at the moment. Sure, if you win the games and leave the game with a positive feeling, it doesn’t hurt the next day. At Bayern it’s a lot about the result, but not just that. It’s also about the way – and for us it was very, very good. Now the crucial weeks are coming – and we are optimally prepared. Now I hope that everyone stays fit and healthy.
We are here in Rottweil. As a child, did you even dream that you would one day have a career like this?
Honestly not. It wasn’t foreseeable. I was a good player here in the region as a child. When I moved to VfB Stuttgart (2007 to 2013, editor’s note), it was no longer the case that I stood out from the crowd. Few people would have thought that I would then take such a path. Maybe becoming a professional is one thing, but playing for FC Bayern and in the national team is something special. That’s already a high level.
How close to home are you?
I’m actually very close to home. But it’s becoming less and less that I’m here. But the “Kimmich Academy” and the foundation’s work are always a reason to come home. Otherwise it is difficult because of my four children – my family often comes to Munich for this. Nevertheless, I still have a lot of contact with my friends here.
How do you follow your former club VfB Stuttgart or SC Freiburg? Are you aware of what’s happening?
Both are potential opponents in the DFB Cup final. I follow VfB a little more closely because I played there and was always a VfB fan as a child. Accordingly, I am very pleased with the current good run. They have now unfortunately been eliminated from the Europa League by Porto. That hurt – especially when you saw the games and the multitude of chances. You hang on to it a little bit and watch for games or results when time permits.
At Freiburg I’m following the results. Here, too, it has to be said that the work in recent years has been impressive, especially with regard to the youth players. This is a good example for other clubs.
This is also important to you with the “Kimmich Academy”. They want to give something back to the region. What is the background for you?
I grew up here and noticed that this is a football-crazy region, but that there is no youth academy. If you want to compete at the highest level, you have to go to VfB, Hoffenheim or SC Freiburg at some point when you’re 11, 12, 13 years old. Everything is over 100 kilometers away, so you are dependent on your parents for support or driving. Or you have to go to boarding school or move. And that’s where we want to start with the “Kimmich Academy”. In addition to club football and base training, we want to give children the chance to play football at the highest level. We try to offer this holistically, including schools, for example, and are open to everyone. The aim is that you don’t have to leave your parents’ house, but that you also have the chance to work at the highest level with top trainers here in Rottweil.
Do you choose these top trainers yourself?
We provide certain values and guidelines. We also want the “Kimmich Academy” to stand for a certain style of football. I don’t choose the trainers myself. Our managing director Manfred Flohr has a lot of expertise and a good hand.
You now have over 100 international matches. The 2026 World Cup is coming up in the summer. When I remember how disappointed you were after being eliminated from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar: do you feel the need to set things straight for the 2026 World Cup?
Luckily, you can find ways to deal with defeat and disappointment. In football, these things are often close together. Everything feels good at the moment, let’s see what it looks like in four weeks. There were many, many tournaments with the national team that were not good. I joined in 2016 – we played a very good European Championship and won the Confederations Cup a year later. After that it was honestly very, very thin. I’ve never reached the knockout phase, especially at a World Cup. The last European Championship two years ago in Germany was okay, but we were still eliminated in the quarter-finals. Accordingly, there are still very big goals for the DFB team – although we of course know that everything has to go very well if we want to attack.
How important are the international test matches that are coming up now?
In the situation we find ourselves in, they are very important. The last international games haven’t been consistently positive, so every game is good for us. I believe that with more games the team will get closer together. That’s why it’s important that we have everyone on board, every rejection is bitter. The March international games come before a crucial phase of the season, so one or two people might say to themselves: “Come on, I’ll skip a game!” This cannot be the case with us. It shouldn’t be the case that anyone doesn’t want to play an international match. It’s something very special to play for Germany. That’s why we all have to go there and be up for it! We have to be keen to develop as a team to be able to play a role at the World Cup.
There are players who would really like to be there, but were not nominated. For example Angelo Stiller from VfB Stuttgart. As captain, are you involved in such decisions by national coach Julian Nagelsmann?
We exchange ideas, but nominations and personnel are the responsibility of the trainer. We as players trust him to make the right decisions.
Is it possible to be as dominant with the national team as with FC Bayern?
I actually think it helps us in the national team when there are a lot of Bayern players on the pitch. Because we are well-rehearsed and train together every day. So we have certain automatisms in place. Nevertheless, it is important that other teams like BVB or VfB, which have a lot of German players, perform well. It is important that we manage to form a good team with many players who know each other, be it from the national team or from the club.
