Germany Women’s Euro 2022 squad announcement and preview!

Bayern Munich will be well represented at another international tournament. Germany national team coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg has announced her 23-woman squad for next month’s European Championship:

The Frauen-Bundesliga’s leaders feature large: eight players from champions Vfl Wolfsburg; seven from runners-up Bayern.

Training camp resumes on June 21st, with a friendly vs Switzerland on June 24.

Germany will open Group B play against Denmark on July 8, followed by July 12 vs Spain and July 16 vs Finland.

Spotlight: Lea Schüller

Bayern’s pacey striker and 2021 NT Player of the Year is scoring at a truly prolific rate: 16 goals from 22 games for the Bayern Frauen last season, and 11 from 7 for the national team in WC Qualifying.

Also representing Bayern are DF Marina Hegering, DF Giulia Gwinn, MF Linda Dallmann, MF Lina Magull, FW Sydney Lohmann, and FW Klara Bühl. Hegering is departing Bayern after two seasons to join Wolfsburg this summer, so she’ll do so as a fresh alumna.

Injuries and omissions

Chelsea midfielder Melanie Leupolz (47 caps) is welcoming a child and will miss out on this year’s tournament. Olympique Lyon midfielder Dzsenifer Marozsán (61 caps) is in recovery from a torn ACL that also caused her to miss her team’s Champions League Final victory.

Narrowly missing selection this time: GK Martina Tukefović (Hoffenheim), DF Maximiliane Rall (Bayern), MF Jana Feldkamp (Hoffenheim), MF Sjoeke Nüsken (Eintracht Frankfurt), and MF Chantal Hagel (Hoffenheim). Hagel will be the first alternate.

Outlook

The Germans have traditionally dominated the Euros, having won eight of its thirteen editions. A streak of six in a row starting in 1995 snapped in 2017 thanks to a quarterfinals exit to Denmark. An early dismissal from the 2019 World Cup meant they missed out on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as well. Now the team is retooled, but other nations haven’t stood still, either.

Fans of the men’s Bayern and DFB sides can expect to see a similar blueprint in place for the women’s team: counter-pressing, fast-paced play with a plethora of technically skilled midfielders.

But while the Germans rolled 8-0-0 through Euro qualifying, a 3-2 defeat to Serbia in April has raised late questions about defensive solidity. (Again a familiar theme?) And with just one pre-tournament friendly before kickoff, there’s not a lot of time to assemble into an optimal collective.

However, Marina Hegering put it well to web.de News: “We are Germany and have certain aspirations for ourselves.”