Germany

Manuel Neuer, aged 40 years and 79 days when Germany open against Curaçao on June 14, becomes the oldest goalkeeper ever to represent Germany at a World Cup — he reversed his 2024 international retirement after Nagelsmann personally called him back.

Florian Wirtz became the most expensive Bundesliga export ever when Liverpool paid €135 million for him in summer 2025 — his first season at Anfield was inconsistent but he arrived at the World Cup in the form of his life.

Lennart Karl, aged 18, is the youngest player in the squad and became the youngest player ever to score in three consecutive UEFA Champions League matches with Bayern Munich in 2025-26.

Germany have won the World Cup four times (1954, 1974, 1990, 2014) — only Brazil (5) have won more — and their group-stage exits in 2018 and 2022 represent the worst back-to-back results in their tournament history.

Seven of the 26-man squad are from Bayern Munich — the most of any single club — including Germany's captain Joshua Kimmich, who scored 2 goals and 9 assists in the Bundesliga in 2025-26.

Before the 1954 final, Hungary hadn't lost in four years and had thrashed West Germany 8-3 in the group stage — yet the Germans won 3-2 in pouring rain, helped by Adi Dassler's revolutionary screw-in studs. Germans still call it the 'Miracle of Bern'.

The only time East Germany and West Germany ever met was at the 1974 World Cup — the East won 1-0 through Jürgen Sparwasser, but it was the losers who lifted the trophy two weeks later.