World Cup 2026: Germany

Germany

Die Mannschaft — four stars on the chest, a Wirtz-and-Musiala generation, and the longest decade Germany has ever spent rebuilding

Advanced from Group E as group winners (7 points). Lost to Paraguay 1-1 (3-4 on penalties) in Round of 32 (June 29, Gillette Stadium, Foxborough) — Germany's first-ever World Cup penalty shootout defeat.

The Story

Germany used to be the team you didn't have to worry about. Four titles, eight finals, the most ruthlessly consistent program in the sport for half a century. Then 2018 happened — group stage exit in Russia, last place behind South Korea. Then 2022 happened — group stage exit in Qatar, knocked out the same day Japan beat Spain. Two of the last three tournaments, the four-time champions have not made the Round of 16. That is the sentence that frames everything.

Julian Nagelsmann took the job in 2023 with a mandate to rebuild without the benefit of a rebuild. His Euro 2024 quarterfinal exit (extra time, to Spain, who won the whole thing) was the most encouraging German tournament in a decade. Now he arrives in America with a clearer team than any of his predecessors had — Joshua Kimmich anchoring, Florian Wirtz orchestrating, Kai Havertz leading the line, and Jamal Musiala (when fit) doing the things only Musiala can do.

The roster is younger than the German fan base is used to and the coach is younger than that. Whether it's enough to remind everyone what Germany used to be — that's the open question. The talent is here. The history is heavy. Twelve years is a long time to wait for a knockout-round win.

Week 1 Update: Germany 7, Curaçao 1 — and whatever anxiety remained about group-stage exits just got buried under a historic scoreline. Wirtz orchestrated, Musiala dazzled, and the four-time champions looked like the version of themselves their fans have been waiting twelve years to see. It was Curaçao, not France, but the intent was unmistakable. Germany are here to remind everyone what the shirt means.

Matchday 2 Update: Germany 2, Ivory Coast 1 — and the four-time champions are through to the Round of 32 with a game to spare. Deniz Undav is the story of this group: a bench option in Matchday 1 who came on to score and assist twice against Curaçao, then started against the Elephants and buried a brace to overturn a deficit. Five goal contributions in two matches. Nine goals scored as a team. Nagelsmann's side aren't just avoiding group-stage embarrassment — they look like a team that remembers what it used to be.

Matchday 3 Update: Germany 1, Ecuador 2 — and the four-time champions limp into the knockouts after getting beaten by a team they should have buried. Still top Group E on goal difference (+6 to Ivory Coast's +2), but the 7-1 demolition of Curaçao feels like a different tournament now. Two unconvincing performances in a row. Nagelsmann's side looked complacent and Ecuador punished every bit of it. The knockout rounds will demand a version of Germany that hasn't shown up since Matchday 1.

Round of 32 (June 29): Germany 1, Paraguay 1 — and then Paraguay 4, Germany 3 on penalties, and something historic happened in the worst possible way for German football. Julio Enciso gave La Albirroja the lead on the stroke of halftime; Kai Havertz replied in the 54th. Through extra time, through a Jonathan Tah goal that VAR wiped away for a foul — and then the shootout. Germany had never lost a World Cup penalty shootout. Not in 1982, not in 1986, not in 1990, not in 2006. They did it now. Paraguay, 16 years in the wilderness, delivered the most stunning result of the Round of 32, and Germany go home carrying a record that can never be clean again.

3 Players to Know

Florian Wirtz

Twenty-two, Liverpool's club-record £100 million signing from Bayer Leverkusen last summer, and the player Nagelsmann has built this team around. Premier League start has been okay rather than dazzling — 4 goals, 3 assists in 29 appearances by April — but he turned up for Germany's qualifiers in the autumn and assisted twice in the 6-0 over Slovakia that booked the trip. Plays as a 10, sees passes nobody else sees, and is the kind of footballer the Germans haven't had since prime Özil.

Jamal Musiala

Born in Stuttgart, raised in England, came up at Chelsea's academy, chose Germany at 18. Bayern's most exciting attacker by a distance — when he's healthy. He fractured his fibula at the Club World Cup last summer and has spent most of the 2025-26 season fighting his way back. Nagelsmann has reportedly been on the phone with Bayern manager Vincent Kompany about his fitness. If he's right by June, Germany has its most thrilling 1-2 attacking punch since the 2014 squad. If he isn't, Serge Gnabry starts.

Joshua Kimmich

The captain. Thirty-one, on his second decade at Bayern, can play right back or holding midfield and the team is better either way. Was at the center of the post-2022 reckoning — tactical scapegoat, cultural lightning rod, briefly benched — and has reemerged as the squad's clearest leader. If you watch one Germany player to understand what Nagelsmann wants from this team, watch Kimmich. He's the one running the most and complaining the loudest.

The Food

Signature Dish

The honest answer is currywurst — a steamed bratwurst, sliced into coins, drowned in a curry-spiked tomato sauce, paper plate, plastic fork, eaten standing up outside a bahnhof. The fancy answer is schweinshaxe, a roasted pork knuckle the size of your fist, crackling skin, served with potato dumplings and a pile of red cabbage. Pair either with a half-liter of pilsner that costs four dollars in Berlin and twelve at any American bar.

Where to Eat in DFW

Bavarian Grill in Plano (3425 Premier Dr) — full-service Bavarian restaurant, schnitzels and schweinshaxe and a beer list that takes itself seriously. Live oompah on weekends, dirndls on the staff, the works. Hours: Tue–Thu 11am–9:30pm, Fri–Sat 11am–10pm — closed Mondays and Sundays, so check the match day before you build plans around it. For a quicker fix, Kuby's Sausage House in Snider Plaza (since 1961) does a perfect schnitzel sandwich at lunch — restaurant closes at 2:30pm Mon-Sat and all day Sunday, but the market/deli stays open until 6pm Mon-Sat if you want to stock up for a home watch party.

Fan Culture

German support has been recalibrating since 2014. The boom-era arrogance is gone; in its place is a quieter, more self-deprecating crowd that has watched too many group-stage exits to assume anything. You'll still hear "Schland! Schland!" rolling through the away end and the throaty "Sieg!" call-and-response, but it comes with the implicit understanding that this team has to earn it. Pilsner in plastic cups. Black-red-gold scarves. A surprising number of fans who can name every player's club and contract length. If Germany scores in the knockouts for the first time in eight years, the crowd reaction will be cathartic in a way you usually only see at funerals.