{"id":642839,"date":"2025-12-19T20:07:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T20:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/642839\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T20:07:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T20:07:20","slug":"2026-world-cup-reportedly-prompts-unusual-request-from-germany-coach-nagelsmann-to-barcelonas-flick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/642839\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 World Cup reportedly prompts unusual request from Germany coach Nagelsmann to Barcelona\u2019s Flick"},"content":{"rendered":"

The approaching 2026 FIFA World Cup<\/strong> is impossible to ignore in the soccer world. The tournament\u2019s top stars will be present, and this naturally affects preparations in the months leading up to it. Reports indicate that Germany<\/strong> coach Julian Nagelsmann<\/strong> reached out to his Barcelona <\/strong>counterpart Hansi Flick<\/a><\/strong> with an unusual request.<\/p>\n

Last Tuesday, Barcelona<\/strong> defeated Guadalajara 2-0 in the third round of the Copa del Rey<\/strong>. The standout moment was the presence of Marc-Andre Ter Stegen<\/a><\/strong> in goal for Barcelona, taking the position many had assumed would go to Wojciech Szczesny<\/strong>, and returning to official action after a long spell on the sidelines.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe German Football Association, led by national team coach Julian Nagelsmann, called Hansi Flick to ask him to play Ter Stegen<\/strong> so they could assess his condition after the injury,\u201d reported Sport, citing Catalunya Radio and German media sources.<\/p>\n

This relates to the long time the goalkeeper had been out of action following a back injury that required surgery. This season, he had only been on the bench in two Barcelona<\/a><\/strong> matches: against Eintracht Frankfurt<\/strong> in the UEFA Champions League <\/strong>and against Osasuna<\/strong> in La Liga<\/strong>, both in the last week.<\/p>\n

\"Marc-Andre<\/p>\n

Marc-Andre ter Stegen of FC Barcelona.<\/p>\n

Germany need Ter Stegen<\/p>\n

It is unusual for a national team coach to directly request a club manager to give minutes to a player for evaluation purposes. If the reports about Nagelsmann<\/a><\/strong> and Flick are accurate, it highlights how important Marc-Andre Ter Stegen is for Germany at this moment.<\/p>\n

\"Hansi<\/p>\n

see also<\/p>\n

Hansi Flick sends clear message on Ter Stegen\u2019s Barcelona return after Copa del Rey close call<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWith Manuel Neuer retiring from the national team, the Barcelona goalkeeper is the favorite to defend the German goal at the next World Cup,\u201d<\/strong> Sport noted. Indeed, the absence of the Bayern Munich<\/strong> superstar has left a gap that is hard to fill with the same reliability as Ter Stegen can provide.<\/p>\n

Neuer ended his international career after Euro 2024<\/strong>. Since then, the Barcelona player has appeared as the natural successor, but his physical issues have forced Nagelsmann to rely on Oliver Baumann<\/strong>, who played much of the World Cup<\/a><\/strong> qualifiers, with Alexander Nubel <\/strong>and Finn Dahmen<\/strong> as alternatives.<\/p>\n

It is clear that Ter Stegen remains Germany<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s most prestigious goalkeeper. His return to full fitness and form in the coming months will be crucial ahead of the World Cup. Additionally, it is likely a personal priority for him, considering he has never played a minute in the FIFA <\/strong>tournament despite being part of the squad in Russia 2018<\/strong> and Qatar 2022.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The approaching 2026 FIFA World Cup is impossible to ignore in the soccer world. The tournament\u2019s top stars…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[199,2000,299,1824,76739,57563,81963,1514],"class_list":{"0":"post-642839","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-barcelona","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-germany","12":"tag-hansi-flick","13":"tag-julian-nagelsmann","14":"tag-marc-andre-ter-stegen","15":"tag-world-cup"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115748041827246018","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}