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In the Bundesliga, the footballers of FC Bayern Munich became champions, but the DFB team will miss them longer than hoped

Photo: IMAGO/DiZ-PiX

With 20 runners-up, the German women's footballers are starting their preparations for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand (20 July to 20 August). Germany coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg named a total of 28 players for the provisional World Cup squad on Wednesday in Frankfurt am Main. Permanently injured full-back Giulia Gwinn will be absent, while Chelsea midfielder Leupolz is part of the squad just eight months after the birth of her son.

There is trouble over the release of the five FC Bayern Munich players, Lina Magull, Sydney Lohmann, Lea Schüller, Carolin Simon and Klara Bühl. 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 June 20, as agreed," said Joti Chatzialexiou, sporting director of national teams, in a DFB statement.

At the press conference announcing the squad, Chatzialexiou was even clearer: "I know FC Bayern as a very reliable and committed partner. Now they have broken their word," said the DFB official, who was disappointed and called the reasons "incomprehensible". At the beginning of the year, they had already agreed on the framework conditions with the clubs and also received written assurances.

Bayern had argued that the players needed the extra vacation days after a season with many injuries. Voss-Tecklenburg criticized above all the course of communication. The club's attitude is "understandable from a certain perspective, but not at this point in time". You have to talk about "reliability" and "trust", said the national coach.

Without Gwinn, without Dallmann

The team of European runners-up will now be led by captain Alexandra Popp and regular keeper Merle Frohms from VfL Wolfsburg. However, not taking winger Gwinn with her was the "most difficult decision", said Voss-Tecklenburg.

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," said the national coach 50 days before the kick-off of the World Cup tournament (20 July to 20 August). Linda Dallmann is also missing from the squad, the midfielder is not yet fit again after tearing her syndesmosis ligament.

TV rights not yet granted everywhere

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.

However, it is still unclear whether the tournament will be shown on TV in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Great Britain at all, as the television rights in the respective countries have not yet been awarded. With a view to an imminent TV blackout, top European politicians led by Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser have called on those involved to act.

Due to the "enormous charisma" of the World Cup "as well as its sporting and social impact, we see it as our responsibility to call on all parties involved to quickly reach an agreement," ministers from Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Great Britain announced on Wednesday.

cev/dpa