The future is multicultural as young Germany seek European title

By Morten Ritter Jun 27, 2009, 12:24 GMT

Helsingborg, Sweden - Germany take on England in the under-21 European Championships final on Monday with a team which highlights the growing multicultural nature of its society.

Eleven of the 23-man squad were either born outside Germany or have an immigrant background in a trend which has already been felt by the national team.

Five of the players in the squad have already made their full international debuts and others are knocking at the door in what augurs well for national team coach Joachim Loew ahead of the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.

After overcoming Italy 1-0 in Friday's semi-finals, Germany now go to Malmo to face a strong England team who scraped though in a penalty shoot-out against hosts Sweden after squandering a 3-0 lead.

While countries such as England with its colonial history and Commonwealth ties have long integrated players with an immigrant background, the trend has been longer coming in Germany.

However at national levels, players such as the Polish-born Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski or the Ghanaian-born Gerald Asamoah have been established internationals over the past decade, and others have followed.

The under-21 squad is testimony to a continuing development with players such as captain Sami Khedira, midfielders Mesut Ozil or Gonzalo Castro, striker Ashkan Dejagah and defender Jerome Boateng among key members of the squad.

German football officials say the development is confirmation that their youth policies are working as the under-21 side seeks to emulate the German under-17 and under-19 teams who have both won European titles over the past year.

National team general manager Oliver Bierhoff said: 'It only goes to show the integrative character of football. It's nice to see how these players devote themselves to Germany. The German football team should be a home for them.'

SV Hamburg midfielder Dennis Aogo, the son of a Nigerian father, said the decision to play for Germany, the country of his birth, was an easy one.

'In other countries it is normal for foreign players to be integrated into the team,' he said.

'It's also a message, not just for football but for life in general, that we can live together and achieve great things together.'

Although the Nigerian football federation had inquired about Aogo, the Karlsruhe-born player said he was in no doubt about where his future lay.

'For me the decision was clear. I grew up here. In Nigeria I do not have the closeness to the country and the culture.'

The same goes for Khedira, the son of a German mother and Tunisian father, who is bound to feature in Loew's thinking if Germany qualify as expected for next year's World Cup finals.

The yet uncapped Khedira was born in Stuttgart and came up through the VfB Stuttgart youth ranks to establish himself as an important player in the Bundesliga team.

'Despite inquiries from Tunisia I decided very early on (for Germany),' he said.

'My father is also proud that I am playing for Germany.'

Others such as Werder Bremen's Ozil, born in Germany to Turkish parents, or Hamburg defender Boateng, who has a German mother and Ghanaian father, have made strong impressions in Sweden. Wolfsburg's Dejagah, born in Tehran to Iranian parents, is another to have pledged his allegiance to Germany although courted by Iran.

For 16 years, Germany's youth teams had no international success but that changed last year when the under-19s under current under-21 coach Horst Hrubesch won the European title.

In May this year, the under-17 title followed. Now the German football federation's sports director Matthias Sammer, who oversees youth development, wants a first European title from the under-21s as further proof German football is on the right road.

He points out that European champions Spain had 10 players on the pitch who had won junior titles when they beat Germany in the final at Euro 2008.

Sammer hopes new structures in place will rectify past mistakes at youth level and give Germany a similar grounding, helping today's talent, whatever their backgrounds, make the step up to senior level.