Bitter truth: HSV star was seemingly far from a Germany call-up | OneFootball

A few days ago, Germany head coach Jürgen Klopp named his first DFB squad. Many HSV supporters had been hoping Nicolai Remberg would get the call.

In recent months, the Hamburg captain had repeatedly been linked with the national team. Even before the 2026 World Cup, the defensive midfielder was said to be on the DFB’s wider radar, and Sky had also counted him among the candidates ahead of Klopp’s first squad announcement.

But reality apparently looked different. According to information from Mopo, there had been no contact at all in recent weeks between Klopp or his coaching staff and HSV officials. A clear sign that, in the end, Remberg was probably not among the serious options for the new national coach’s debut international window.

IMAGO

DFB assistant Mads Buttgereit was indeed in attendance at the Bundesliga home game against 1. FSV Mainz (0–5) at the Volksparkstadion. However, his focus was not on an HSV player. Instead, he was there to watch Mainz playmaker Nadiem Amiri, who did in fact receive a call-up afterward and even started against the Netherlands (1–1).

HSV: Remberg endured a complicated start to the season

For Remberg, that is a sobering realization. The 25-year-old has been one of the defining figures in HSV’s play since arriving in the summer of 2025 and now even wears the captain’s armband. At the same time, the competition in his position is enormous. Alongside established names like Joshua Kimmich, Aleksandar Pavlovic and Felix Nmecha, players such as Anton Stach and Yannik Engelhardt are also pushing for a place in the team. On top of that, Remberg had an overall weak start to the season.

And beyond the 25-year-old, no other HSV professional is currently making a strong case for the senior Germany national team either. In the opening weeks of the Bundesliga season, it was mainly highly talented youngsters such as Louis Lemke, Shafiq Nandja and Otto Stange who picked up minutes and could be considered future DFB candidates. For now, though, in the cases of Stange and Lemke, they are first featuring for the junior national teams.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.