For the German national football team and national coach Hansi Flick, there will be a reunion with World Cup scare Japan in September. The international match in Wolfsburg on 9 September (20:45 CET in the F.A.Z. live ticker for international matches and on RTL) is the start of the European Championship season. Three days later, there will be a top-class performance test against World Cup runners-up France in Dortmund (21:00 p.m. in the F.A.Z. live ticker for international matches, TV channels still open). The DFB team had lost 1-2 to Japan at the start of the World Cup in Qatar. The false start led to the next preliminary round exit of the German selection.

In October, Flick will travel to the USA with the national team. The first of two opponents has been decided: On 14 October (21:00 CEST in the F.A.Z. live ticker for international matches and on RTL), the German team will meet the USA, one of the three host countries of the 2026 World Cup, in Hartford, the capital of the US state of Connecticut.

USA trip in the middle of the season

"The games against Japan and France are very special highlights for me in our preparation plan for the European Championships in our own country. As runners-up in 2022 and world champions in 2018, France are one of the top favourites for the European Championship title," said Flick: "With Japan, we expect another very strong opponent, as the World Cup has shown. Afterwards, we will face the USA, a World Cup host who is highly motivated in preparation for the home tournament. This game is a very appealing challenge, both in terms of sport and atmosphere."

"After the two highly interesting home games against France and Japan, it is important to be present on site, to hold talks and make contacts with a view to the upcoming World Cup," said sporting director Rudi Völler in a DFB statement. "Even though we are all looking forward to our home European Championships next year, which is the focus of all our planning, it is part of professional preparation to tackle the following tournament at an early stage in order to create optimal conditions there as well," said Völler. The trip takes place in the middle of the season and is unlikely to meet with understanding from all clubs.

At the end of the current season, the national team will play three more international matches in Bremen against Ukraine (12 June), in Warsaw against Poland (16 June) and in Gelsenkirchen against Colombia (20 June). Flick will announce his squad for these European Championship tests this Friday. The team will meet on June 7 in Frankfurt am Main. As in the past, it will train on the DFB campus. In the first international matches of 2023, there had been a 2-0 win against Peru and a 2-3 win against Belgium in March.

Midfielder Felix Nmecha from Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg will not be available to Flick in June. The 22-year-old suffered a severe ankle contusion in the season finale against Hertha BSC (1-2) and is out for the time being. This was announced by Lower Saxony on Tuesday. Nmecha made his debut for Germany in the international match against Belgium in March.