Timetable for the national team: DFB team via Oman to the World Cup in Qatar

Nomination of the squad, a brief acclimatization including a test match in Oman, then on to Qatar: The direct preparation for the World Cup is tight for the German national soccer team.

The presentation of the German squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia was staged with great effort. The then Russian national coach Stanislav Tschertschessow was even projected as a hologram onto a chair next to the then German national coach Joachim Löw in the Dortmund Football Museum.

When the German squad for the 2022 World Cup is announced, there should be no fuss. During a press conference on Thursday (November 10th, 2022) in Frankfurt am Main, national coach Hansi Flick will announce which 26 players are in the squad.

Short trip to Oman

There is hardly any time left for these pros to pack their bags, because there is still a Bundesliga match day from Friday to Sunday, and the plane to Muscat in Oman will take off on Monday afternoon.

When the delegation of the German Football Association moves into their rooms there, it will be almost Tuesday, because Oman is three hours ahead of the German winter time.

Test match on November 16th

The last and only test match before the World Cup will therefore kick off at 6 p.m. CET (9 p.m. local time) in a stadium in Muscat named after Sultan Qaboos, who ruled the monarchy on the Arabian Peninsula from 1970 to 2020.

So there is only one day left before the game to get used to the temperatures on site, which rise to over 30 degrees Celsius around midday and don’t drop below 20 degrees at night either. The final training session and a press conference are on the agenda for Tuesday. The sports show will accompany the DFB team and report daily on all playout routes about the short stay in Oman, which ends on Thursday.

Press conference with DFB President

Then, in the late morning local time, it’s off to the Emirate of Qatar, which is only two hours ahead of German time. It is about 125 kilometers by bus from the airport in Doha to the base camp of the German team, which is further away from the capital than any other camp. With favorable traffic, the journey to the northern tip of Qatar takes about 80 minutes.

For Friday, the DFB has scheduled a press conference with its President Bernd Neuendorf, which will mainly deal with topics that have been discussed in some cases for a good decade now, such as the situation of migrant workers, a possible compensation fund for the victims of the system and the harsh working conditions, the human rights situation, the rights of women and queer people.

Start against Japan on November 23rd

At the latest on Saturday, one day before the opening game of the World Cup between the hosts and Ecuador, national coach Flick will invite his players to the first training session in Qatar. Before or after that, there will also be the first press conference in the media center at the DFB quarter, which is planned every day – the days after the games are exceptions.

Just over a week after the first training session in Oman, things are getting serious for the German team in Qatar. In comparable climatic conditions, the game against Japan is scheduled for Wednesday at 2 p.m. CET (4 p.m. local time). This is followed by the two group games on Sunday (November 27, 8 p.m. CET) against Spain and on Thursday (December 1, 8 p.m. CET) against Costa Rica.

Possible round of 16 on December 5th and 6th

Should the German team finish their group E as the top of the table, the round of 16 against the runners-up in group F (Belgium, Croatia, Morocco, Canada) would take place on Monday (December 5th). If the selection of the DFB were second, it would be a day later against the winner of Group F.

If the German team is eliminated in the preliminary round, as in Russia in 2018, they will go home on December 2nd.