Without the long-term injured Giulia Gwinn, but with the young mother Melanie Leupolz, the German footballers go into the World Cup preparation - and with additional trouble for FC Bayern Munich. In the 28-man provisional squad for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, full-back Gwinn is missing, as national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg announced on Wednesday in Frankfurt/Main. On the other hand, Chelsea midfielder Leupolz is part of the squad just eight months after the birth of her son.
Unexpectedly, there is trouble over the release of the five players of FC Bayern Munich. They will not arrive at the training camp until 23 June, three days later. "Contrary to agreements made at the beginning of the year, one club has unfortunately decided not to release its players on 20 June, as agreed," said Joti Chatzialexiou, sporting director of national teams, in a DFB statement.
The team of the European Championship runners-up will be led by captain Alexandra Popp and regular keeper Merle Frohms from VfL Wolfsburg. Gwinn hadn't played a game since her second cruciate ligament tear in October. "Giulia is very far along with her rehabilitation plan, but she lacks several weeks of training time," Voss-Tecklenburg said 50 days before the kick-off of the World Cup tournament (20 July to 20 August).
After the two training camps in Herzogenaurach, with friendly matches against Vietnam in Offenbach on 24 June and against Zambia in Fürth on 7 July, the final squad of 23 players will be announced. The DFB Women will face Morocco (24 June), Colombia (30 July) and South Korea (3 August) in the World Cup preliminary round. Voss-Tecklenburg is largely relying on the tribe of the Euro 2022 in England.