Overview
- Germany coach Jürgen Klopp named the 44-player list on Thursday by splitting the group into two squads to cover the Netherlands (Sept. 24) and Greece (Sept. 27) and a second group for Serbia (Oct. 1) and Greece (Oct. 4).
- The pools include about 16 first-time call-ups, notably SV Elversberg midfielder Felix Keidel, as Klopp turns the four matches into an extended audition for players he sees as part of a two- to three-year project.
- Marc‑André ter Stegen was designated Germany’s preferred number-one goalkeeper "for the moment" and Joshua Kimmich kept the captain’s armband with Klopp moving him back into central midfield.
- High-profile omissions include World Cup top scorer Deniz Undav and Leroy Sané, with German reporting saying Undav will be given short-term recovery time for an Achilles issue.
- Klopp publicly condemned pre-announcement media leaks as 'pathetic' and framed the large, split squad as a response to a congested calendar and the need to protect player fitness while rebuilding after the World Cup exit and coaching change.