With Jeltsch & Brunner
©IMAGO
The U17 World Cup starts next Monday in Qatar, and the German selection goes into the tournament as defending champions. Reason enough to take a look at where the path of the world champion class has led from 2023 to date. Two years after the triumphant final victory on penalties against France, Transfermarkt looks at the development of then national coach Christian Wück’s squad. While some of the players developed as predicted by many experts, others fell short of the expectations raised at the time – and still others exceeded them (see the following gallery).
Today, the most valuable player in the World Champion team at the time now plays for VfB Stuttgart and has become an integral part of the Swabians’ defense: Nuremberg’s own Finn Jeltsch recently increased his market value to 20 million euros and is therefore one of the most valuable players of his year worldwide. The German Football Association recently awarded the Stuttgart central defender with the Fritz Walter Gold Medal, which was also honored by the German World Cup record scorer and coach of his training club Miroslav Klose: “I am extremely pleased with the award. He is a fantastic boy who has made a huge journey in Nuremberg. I am also following him at VfB. He has the quality to have a really great career.”
Two weeks ago, another U17 world champion from 2023, Max Moerstedt, was also delighted to receive precious metal from the association. Despite his young age, the TSG Hoffenheim attacker has already played 28 competitive games for the Bundesliga club from Kraichgau and received the bronze medal for his year. “We are very happy for the boy and also see this as an award for the path we have taken so far with Max and our boys in the academy as a whole,” said Andreas Schicker, TSG Sports Director. Moerstedt has already increased its starting market value sevenfold in the summer of 2024.
Meanwhile, the best German goalscorer in the 2023 tournament with five goals and second best overall behind the Argentinian Agustín Ruberto is still waiting for the big breakthrough: Paris Brunner. The now 19-year-old moved from BVB to AS Monaco in the summer of 2024 after there were repeated incidents internally and the player himself did not see sufficient prospects at the Westphalians. The striker was loaned directly to Cercle Brugge from the Ligue 1 club in Belgium and scored six goals in 28 competitive games there last season. Brunner returned to the Principality in the summer of 2025, but against the background of the turbulent start to the season with the Monegasques, which also saw coach Adi Hütter having to resign, he has not made more than a few short appearances to date.
The U17 world champion Almugera Kabar also sees little prospects at Borussia Dortmund. While the left-back benefited from the tense personnel situation at Westphalia in the 2024/25 season and made his first five Bundesliga appearances, his development has stagnated since then – the 19-year-old has only made a maximum of appearances in the current season in the Black and Yellows’ regional league team. Not enough for Kabar, who according to a report wants to turn his back on the club permanently or on loan with an option to buy. The Premier League is considered the preferred destination, and the players’ side made their clear request for a change to Dortmund’s sports director Sebastian Kehl in October, it is said.
Incidentally, another player from the 2023 squad has already made the move to England: Eric da Silva Moreira. The Hamburg native received a professional contract with FC St. Pauli after the World Cup in January 2024 and immediately played his first minute of action in the 2nd Bundesliga with the later promoted Bundesliga team – no more were added because he moved to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League in the summer of 2024 for a fee of 1.5 million euros. At the Tricky Trees, where his contract runs until 2028, the 18-year-old made five appearances in the first team and was loaned out to Portuguese first division club Rio Ave in the summer of 2025, where he has made short appearances to date.
While Wolfsburg’s own product David Odogu is now looking for his luck at AC Milan in Italy, Maximilian Hennig is starting at the Austrian Bundesliga club TSV Hartberg – how the youngsters are doing and how the other U17 world champions from 2023, Konstantin Heide, Noah Darvich and Charles Herrmann, fared. can be read in the gallery above.