National team
Nagelsmann’s countdown: From the USA trip to the opening game
Julian Nagelsmann is the new national coach of the German national soccer team. photo
© Jörg Halisch/dpa
Julian Nagelsmann has almost nine months and ten international matches to make the national team competitive for the home European Championships in 2024. The “Summer Fairy Tale 2.0” project is starting.
There are exactly 266 days between the presentation of Julian Nagelsmann as national coach and the opening game of the European Football Championship with the German national team on June 14, 2024 in Munich.
The 36-year-old wants to organize the almost nine months with ten more planned international matches so that Germany can experience “a summer fairy tale 2.0,” as he said. “I don’t have any jitters,” said the former Bayern coach when he was introduced at the DFB campus in Frankfurt.
The German Press Agency outlines the key data leading up to the home tournament:
September October
Nagelsmann immediately throws himself into work with his assistants Benjamin Glück and Sandro Wagner. The national coach has announced that he will be a spectator of the game between Eintracht Frankfurt and SC Freiburg on Sunday at the end of the 5th Bundesliga matchday. Ex-national player Wagner also wants to start directly observing candidates for the upcoming trip to the USA from October 9th to 18th. Nagelsmann will announce the squad for his debut games against the USA in Hartford and against Mexico in Philadelphia the week after next. One thing is certain: Ilkay Gündogan will lead the squad as captain. “I’ll leave it at that,” said Nagelsmann.
November
At the end of the year the DFB selection is initially planning a home game against Turkey in Berlin, but this has not yet been officially confirmed. On November 21st, Austria will be the final opponent in 2023 in Vienna with coach Ralf Rangnick. By the way, Nagelsmann once followed Rangnick as coach at RB Leipzig. That was 2019.
December
On December 2nd there is another important date in the public spotlight for Hansi Flick’s successor. The draw for the European Championship groups will take place in Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie on Bundesliga Saturday. However, only 21 of the 24 final round participants will be determined. Nevertheless, Nagelsmann learns which opponents he has to prepare for with his staff. The process of developing a viable EM strategy then really begins. “A tournament is something different than a single game,” said the DFB hopeful about match plans and game ideas. “Julian is exactly the right person with his style,” said DFB sports director and former team boss Rudi Völler with conviction.
March
Four months of winter break – Nagelsmann is not used to that from his time as a club coach. Only on March 18, 2024 will he be able to gather the DFB selection around him again for two international matches. The locations and test match opponents have not yet been decided, but are already in the DFB’s planning. In any case, he also wants to keep in touch with his European Championship candidates outside of the DFB courses. “For me, the main contact is the players,” said the head coach.
May
The Bundesliga season ends on May 19th. Shortly before that, Nagelsmann should name his provisional European Championship squad. The DFB Cup final is in Berlin on May 26th.
June
The FIFA standoff period begins after the Champions League final, which will be played in London on June 1st. Nagelsmann is now likely to influence these decisions as to where the national team prepares for the home tournament and against whom they will play two or possibly three test matches. The home ground of supplier Adidas in Herzogenaurach, Franconia, was once again intended as the European Championship venue.
July
Nagelsmann’s project contract runs until the end of the tournament. It is clear which date he should mark in bold in his diary – July 14, 2024: On this day, the European Championship final will take place in Berlin. If he really gets that far with the national team after three tournament flops in 2018, 2021 and 2022, another DFB schedule could follow – namely the one for the 2026 World Cup, which will take place in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
In any case, Nagelsmann and the DFB decision-makers have this option in mind, as the national coach confirmed: “The European Championship is the focus of my thinking and that of the association. We want to play a good tournament. We want mutual work to inspire trust and… not a contractual paper. If we are successful, nothing is excluded from my side.”