Jürgen Klopp has said Germany’s football team can help ensure “national pride is not entrusted to the wrong people” after a recent far-right AfD election victory. In a Frankfurt press conference announcing his first Germany squad, the former Liverpool manager referenced a recent state election win by the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party. The AfD won almost 44% of the vote in the former East German state of Saxony-Anhalt on 6 September and expects strong results in elections on Sunday in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Klopp took the Germany job in July after the four-time World Cup winners experienced a third straight early elimination at the tournament. The 59-year-old has often spoke out about social issues during his time as manager of Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund and Mainz. While not mentioning the AfD by name, Klopp advocated for adopting “positive patriotism”, while saying: “I don’t want to entrust national pride to the wrong people.
A crazy amount of things have happened not that long ago. There was a vote which some people probably found OK, but others would have thought: ‘Good heavens, what’s going on here?’ “From the perspective of someone in sport, I’d like to reclaim the flag for myself and for us. When we wave it, I don’t want that someone thinks: ‘What’s going on with you?’ I want that they think you’re happy and you understand how lucky you are to be born in this wonderful country or to have moved here and live here.” Speaking of national pride, Klopp said he was “not even sure if one can – or is allowed to – use that term any more without it being misunderstood”.
He said: “I can be proud of being German and still be open, diverse, kind and friendly.” Klopp said it was more important that the country had enough doctors and caregivers but said football can “foster a sense of community here, allowing us to truly feel the power of sport”. He took the unusual step of naming a 44-man squad for four upcoming Nations League matches, despite matchday lists being restricted to 23 players. Florian Wirtz and Kai Havertz will probably be limited to a maximum of two of the games as Klopp looks to fit in more new faces and reduce the workload on players.
Karim Adeyemi returns for the first time in 11 months after a positive start at Barcelona and Ajax’s Marc-André ter Stegen is the first-choice goalkeeper after Manuel Neuer’s international retirement. Many of the players called up have never played for Germany. Some, such as the Elversberg midfielder Felix Keidel and Eintracht Frankfurt forward Younes Ebnoutalib, have played a handful of top-division games.
Celtic’s Mika Baur, Brentford’s Vitaly Janelt and the Cologne youngster Said El Mala are among more new faces. The striker Deniz Undav and winger Leroy Sané were not selected.
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