Jonas Hofmann (Germany), Yann Sommer, Nico Elvedi (both Switzerland), Ko Itakura (Japan), Joe Scally (USA) and Marcus Thuram (France) have been called up for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Other players will also be in action in friendlies in mid-November.
France
Marcus Thuram has been named as the final member of the France squad by Didier Deschamps. The forward has scored 10 goals in 15 league games this season and is the league's second top goalscorer. France's first game is against Australia on Tuesday, 22nd November (20:00 CET). Their other opponents are Denmark (Saturday, 26th November at 17:00 CET) and Tunisia (Wednesday, 30th November at 16:00 CET).
Germany
Jonas Hofmann has been selected by Hansi Flick to represent Germany. They will play a friendly in Oman on Wednesday, 16th November (18:00 CET), before their first game in Group E on Wednesday, 23rd November against Japan (14:00 CET). Their other opponents are Spain (Sunday, 27th November at 20:00 CET) and Costa Rica (Thursday, 1st December at 20:00 CET).
Switzerland
Yann Sommer and Nico Elvedi have been called up for the Switzerland squad. Sommer is involved even though he hasn’t played for Borussia since mid-October after suffering an ankle injury. Switzerland will play Ghana in Abu Dhabi in a pre-tournament friendly on Thursday, 17th November (11:00 CET). Their first group match is a week later against Cameroon (Thursday, 24th November at 11:00 CET). Their other two matches are against Brazil (Monday, 28th November at 17:00 CET) and Serbia (Friday, 2nd December at 20:00 CET).
Japan
National team coach Hajime Moriyasu has included Borussia defender Ko Itakura in his squad for the World Cup. The 25-year-old suffered a partial rupture of his MCL back at the start of September and hasn’t been able to feature since for the Foals. Japan’s first match is against Germany on Wednesday, 23rd November at 14:00 CET. They will also take on Costa Rica (Sunday, 27th November at 11:00 CET) and Spain (Thursday, 1st December at 20:00 CET). The Samurai Blue will play Canada in a friendly prior to the tournament on Thursday, 17th November (14:40 CET).
USA
Gregg Berhalter, head coach of the US national team, has named Joe Scally in his squad. They will begin their group against Wales on Monday, 21st November at 20:00 CET. Their other matches in Group B are against England (Friday, 25th November at 20:00 CET) and Iran (Tuesday, 29th November at 20:00 CET).
Algeria
Ramy Bensebaini and Algeria will play two friendlies against Mali (Wednesday, 16th November at 20:30 CET) and Sweden (Saturday, 19th November at 20:30 CET).
Luxembourg
Yvandro Borges Sanches is joined by Borussia youngsters Tiago Pereira Cardoso and Selim Turping for the first time. They could all feature in two friendlies against Hungary (Thursday, 17th November at 20:00 CET) and Bulgaria (Tuesday, 20th November at 15:00 CET).
Germany U21s
Luca Netz and Jordan Beyer, who is currently on loan at Burnley, have been called up for Germany's U21s for their final match of the year against Italy in Ancona (Saturday, 19th November at 17:30 CET).
France U21s
Manu Koné and France U21s have one final game left this year. They will play Norway on Saturday, 19th November (21:00 CET).
Denmark U20s
Oscar Fraulo and Denmark U20s are off to Turkey. They will play two friendlies in Antalya against Sweden (Thursday, 17th November at 16:00 CET) and Hungary (Sunday, 20th November at 16:00 CET).
