National team
Pavlovic’s loss without consequences for the future of the DFB
Must postpone his debut in the German national soccer team: Aleksandar Pavlovic. photo
© Tom Weller/dpa
Julian Nagelsmann was looking forward to Bayern’s young star Pavlovic. But the teenager has to postpone his DFB premiere. A look at the FIFA statutes explains the consequences.
Bayern Munich’s young star suffers from tonsillitis Aleksandar Pavlovic makes his debut with the national soccer team. However, the cancellation for health reasons has no consequences for the general future of the highly talented midfielder as a German national player.
According to the FIFA statutes, the 19-year-old would still have been able to play for the DFB selection in the European Championship tests in France on Saturday (9 p.m. / ZDF) in Lyon and the following Tuesday (8.45 p.m. / RTL) against the Netherlands not played for one nation. A change of association to Serbia would still be possible. Only with a European Championship appearance would Pavlovic commit to a football nation.
Pavlovic had been nominated for Julian Nagelsmann’s German A team for the first time the previous week. “He was currently one of the most stable players at Bayern with a dominant game. He is someone who speaks a lot in the dressing room, who coaches a lot, who doesn’t hide despite his young age,” said the national coach about the young professional. Nagelsmann assured that his nomination after just over a dozen competitive games for FC Bayern had no “political reasons”.
Serbia’s national coach: “We tried everything”
Pavlovic initially postponed his trip to Frankfurt, which was originally planned for Monday, because of the infection. A day later it was completely canceled. On Saturday, the young star suffered a massive swelling over his left eye in a collision during Munich’s 5-2 win at Darmstadt 98. Ultimately, this injury was not the reason for the cancellation.
Pavlovic, who was born in Munich, has a Serbian father and a German mother and can therefore play for both countries. Serbia also qualified for the European Championships. On Thursday, the team will play a highly controversial test against the Russian national team, which is banned from international competitions because of the war in Ukraine.
Serbia’s national coach Dragan Stojkovic chose kind words about Pavlovic’s personality. “We shouldn’t be angry, we tried everything. We had contact with his family at the beginning of December, then with the agent and with Alexander. There is no anger,” added Stojkovic, who played for Olympique Marseille in 1993 together with the current DFB team. Sports director Rudi Völler won the Champions League.