Germany beat Scotland at the start of Euro 2024 and is emerging as one of the favorites for the title, not only due to the quality of its players, but also for being the host. With the support of the public, the Mannschaft wants to break the bad streak it has been going through for six years: eliminated in the group stage in the 2018 and 2022 World Cups and in the round of 16 at the Euro 2021.
In their current squad there is only one footballer who was not born in the country: Waldemar Anton, Stuttgart defender, is originally from Uzbekistan and moved with his family to Germany when he was two years old. In previous years, the German team had more athletes born in other latitudes, including three from Brazil.
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++ Footballers born in Brazil who will be at Euro 2024
++ Brazilian-born footballers who won the Euro
++ Female referees make historic entry at Copa América 2024 seminar
Paulo Rink
Former forward born in Curitiba and trained in the Athletico Paranaense youth team, Paulo Rink migrated to Bayer Leverkusen in 1997. He arrived at the age of 24 and had a very good start to his career, to the point that the then German coach, Berti Vogts, decided to call him up.
Descended from a German family, the attacker was able to obtain citizenship and represent that country. He played in friendlies, the 1999 Confederations Cup and Euro 2000, won by France.
🔙 #NesteDia, em 1996, o Paulo Rink marcou esse golaço histórico na Vila Belmiro!
🤩 Vale a pena ver e ver…🌪️ O empate em 1×1 com o Santos nos classificou para a próxima fase da Copa do Brasil, depois de uma vitória por 3×0 no Joaquim Américo. #VamosFuracão pic.twitter.com/ILFRxwkClk
— Athletico Paranaense (@AthleticoPR) March 12, 2021
Kevin Kurányi
He was born in Rio de Janeiro, moved to Panama as a child and then went to Germany to start university. This is how international the life of Kevin Kurányi is, a former large attacker (height 1.92 meters) who played for Stuttgart, Schalke 04, Dinamo Moscow and Hoffenheim.
He debuted in the German national team in 2003 in a friendly against Lithuania and with that shirt he played in Euro 2004, Euro 2008 and the 2005 Confederations Cup, among other tournaments. He retired in 2016, but continues to watch football and is a Flamengo fan.
Ist das wirklich schon 11 Jahre her?
Kuranyi (38.) ⚽️
Kuranyi (41.) ⚽️
Kuranyi (59.) ⚽️
Kuranyi (80.) ⚽️#OnthisDay #S04 #Kuranyi #Viererpack pic.twitter.com/B1bAVTPhcn— FC Schalke 04 (@s04) April 15, 2019
Cacau
Claudemir Jerônimo Barreto, better known as Cacau, was born in the town of Santo André, in the state of São Paulo. He played for a club in the area, União Mogi, and Palmeiras, and his first team in Germany was Türkgücü München, from the fifth division.
His career experienced a meteoric rise due to his good scoring performance at Nuremberg, and mainly at Stuttgart, where he played for more than a decade. In 2009, already with German nationality due to his years living in the country, he was called up to play for the German national team and was part of the team that came third in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
#beVfB | #Cacau 🤍❤️ | #DSCVfB2006 | #VfB pic.twitter.com/UpMs3WdLs0
— VfB Stuttgart_int (@VfB_int) March 29, 2022