Here’s why Germany had an extra player in their official World Cup team photo!
Fans noticed something interesting in Germany’s official World Cup squad photo – there was an extra player included! Now we know why.
Germany had to quickly change their squad when Bayern Munich’s young star Lennart Karl got injured during training and couldn’t play in the tournament. This gave a great chance to 20-year-old RB Leipzig talent Assan Ouedraogo, who even scored in his debut match against Slovakia last November.
Ouedraogo joined well-known players like Florian Wirtz, Jamal Musiala, Kai Havertz, and Antonio Rudiger in a team photo that had 27 players, plus the coaching staff. But this wasn’t a mistake. It turns out goalkeeper Jonas Urbig was also in the picture, even though he’s not officially in the squad.
Urbig, who played 14 times as Bayern won the Bundesliga, got his first senior national team call-up but didn’t play because he injured his right knee. He’s not in the 26-man squad, but the coach Julian Nagelsmann still brought him along as a training goalkeeper at their base in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
This idea is similar to what England’s coach Thomas Tuchel did by bringing Brighton’s Jason Steele for training duties. Usually, Hoffenheim’s Oliver Baumann was Germany’s goalkeeper during qualifying and was expected to start at the World Cup. However, Nagelsmann decided to bring back Manuel Neuer, who had retired from international football but changed his mind at 40 years old.
Neuer, who planned to retire after Euro 2024, was out with a calf injury during warm-up games but has now fully rejoined the team ahead of their first match against Curacao. This will be Neuer’s fifth World Cup, having played in 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022. If he plays against Curacao, he’ll become Germany’s oldest player ever to appear in a major tournament.
Even though Urbig is training with the team, he can’t play in the tournament. Alexander Nubel from Stuttgart is Germany’s third-choice goalkeeper.