Jürgen Klopp, the coach of the German national team, has drawn the attention of other national team coaches with the announcement of a large list of players for the upcoming international break. One of these coaches, Mohamed Ouhbi from Morocco, has expressed concern that Eintracht Frankfurt's striker, Younes, has been under his watch since last season.
Attracting dual nationality players
Ouhbi said: "He had a profile that was interesting for us. I contacted him and explained the Morocco project to him—without making any promises." If the 23-year-old Ibenotlab plays in the UEFA Nations League in the coming weeks, he will commit to Germany and will not be able to play for Morocco.
This situation is not unique, and an increasing number of German players in recent years have other nationalities through their parents, resulting in more options for their international careers. This situation includes several other players in Klopp's 44-man list. For example, Vitali Gilet, whose father came to Germany to play professional ice hockey, is eligible to represent the Czech Republic.
Competition for talent
Bambasse Kent, whose father is from Guinea, and Joshua Wagnoman, whose father is from Ivory Coast. Finn Dahmen has an English mother, while another goalkeeper, Noah Atubolo, has Nigerian roots. All these players were born and raised in Germany and have represented the country at youth levels.
The German men's national team reflects German society as a whole; according to statistics from the Federal Statistical Office, 21.8 million people out of about 83 million in Germany have a migration background. Andreas Rettig, the general director of sports at the German Football Association (DFB), said before last summer's World Cup: "More than 40 percent of children under five in Germany have a migration background. This means they will later have the option to play for one country or another."
This issue forces the German Football Association to compete with other countries for talent and has not always been successful. For example, Ibrahim Maaza from Bayer Leverkusen, who was born and raised in Berlin and has an Algerian father and a Vietnamese mother, holds not only German citizenship but also Algerian and Vietnamese citizenship.
Although Maaza has many qualities that could help Germany, he decided two years ago to play for Algeria and represented the "Desert Foxes" at the Africa Cup of Nations 2025 and the World Cup 2026. Germany has also not utilized Paul Wanner and Can Uzun. Wanner, a top talent raised at Bayern Munich, chose Austria—his mother’s country. Can Uzun from Eintracht Frankfurt has played for Turkey since September 2024.
If Maaza, Wanner, and Uzun had chosen Germany, each would have had a good chance of being selected as part of Klopp's team as the national coach. Given that this international break includes four matches instead of the previous two, Klopp has registered two teams for this break so that each selected player has a high chance of playing. The upcoming UEFA Nations League matches—against the Netherlands, Greece, and Serbia—are competitive, meaning that even if this is not a primary factor in his selection process, Klopp may commit a few more players to Germany in the coming weeks.
