Julian Nagelsmann may be able to nominate more players for the European Championship than previously thought, but it is currently unclear whether the Germany national coach would even make use of the possibility of a larger squad.
Organizers UEFA did not rule out the possibility on Monday of increasing the squad size from 23 to 26 players per team at the European Football Championship and announced that a decision would be made soon on the important personnel issue for the Euro 2024 tournament from June 14 to July 14 in Germany.
“The positive discussions expressed different points of view among the coaches … UEFA has taken note of the different opinions and points of view and will make a final decision in the coming weeks,” it said in a statement after the team workshop of the 24 European Championship participants in the German city of Dusseldorf on Monday.
Nagelsmann suggested a flexible solution as a compromise. “I think you can keep that open. You can name a maximum number of 26 and everyone can decide whether to take fewer,” said the national coach.
He himself is in favour of a smaller squad so as not to have too many unhappy players. “I’m generally in favour of 23, but I can also understand all the arguments in favour of 26,” the 36-year-old ahead of his first tournament as DFB head coach.
Swiss national coach Murat Yakin – Germany’s last group opponent in Frankfurt on June 23 – expressed similar sentiments in Dusseldorf. Austria’s German head coach Ralf Rangnick can also imagine a similarly flexible arrangement.
Dutch coach Ronald Koeman initiated the discussion after the 2-1 defeat to the DFB team in a test at the end of March and spoke in favour of a squad size of 26 instead of the 23 players previously stipulated in the tournament rules.
At the 2021 European Championship, the squads were expanded to 26 players due to the coronavirus pandemic, while at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the heavy workload in the middle of the season was the argument in favour of more tournament players.
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