While Germany’s men will be stepping up their preparations for the FIFA World Cup 2026™, the women’s team will have a lot to play for in the coming months, too, as they vie for one of the first four UEFA spots at the FIFA Women’s World Cup Brazil 2027™.
Germany will face Norway, Austria and Slovenia in qualifying in March, April and June, with the group winners earning a place in Brazil. Head coach Christian Wuck has guided his side through a transition period over the last 18 months, and now it’s a matter of fine-tuning his new-look team.
Here are five players who symbolise the spirit, quality and future aspirations of the German national squad. They all have the potential to become pillars of the team and are expected to play a key role in Women’s World Cup qualifying.
Franziska Kett
Club: Bayern Munich
Position: Defender
After coming through the youth ranks at Bayern Munich, Kett quickly stepped up to professional level. Though highly versatile, she is most at home on the left flank, bringing intensity to the attack with her blistering pace.
Describing her approach to the game, she said: “I’m a scrappy player”, as was clearly demonstrated in the European Championship quarter-final against France last year. After Kathy Hendrich’s early dismissal, the Germans were forced to defend for their lives, with Kett putting in a masterful performance against France’s star forward, Kadidiatou Diani. “I think I may have frustrated the French a bit,” she stated after her side’s victory on penalties.
Although she’s one of the younger players in Wuck’s squad, the 21-year-old has already made huge waves in the past year since making her debut.
Selina Cerci
Club: Hoffenheim
Position: Forward
Cerci earned her first international call-up in early 2022, before two serious knee injuries – one later that year and another in 2023 – left her on the sidelines. The 25-year-old is on record as saying that she has put less pressure on herself since returning from injury, instead focusing on enjoying her football, which may well explain her recent rich form. Cerci has featured more frequently for the national side since Alexandra Popp – a lynchpin in the German attack for many years – retired in 2024.
Cerci was the Bundesliga’s joint-top goalscorer along with Wolfsburg’s Lineth Beerensteyn in the 2024-25 season, and she’s already reached double figures in the current campaign. It’s not just her incredible fighting spirit that Wuck values: “Selina has a set of skills that few other players have. She’s good in the air, she’s fast, she loves taking players on, and she scores goals.”
Alara Sehitler
Club: Bayern Munich
Position: Midfield
Sehitler is one of the biggest talents to have emerged in German women’s football over the last few years. She earned a trial with Bayern Munich at the age of just 15, and impressed enough in her sessions with the pros to earn a contract with the German giants.
She was one of the stand-out players at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Colombia 2024™, but suffered heartbreak after missing the decisive penalty in the quarter-final shootout against the USA.
Despite Germany enjoying a wealth of competition in central midfield, Sehitler earned a senior-team call-up at just 17, and had already won four caps by the time she turned 19, her current age. It looks highly likely that she’ll become a mainstay in the national team over the next few years.
Jule Brand
Club: OL Lyonnes
Position: Midfielder
Only three players in the most recent Germany squad had won more caps than Brand. She has made no fewer than 69 appearances for her country by the age of 23, firmly establishing herself as a star in women’s football before her transfer to Lyon last year.
Under Wuck’s leadership, this outstanding talent is now looking to establish herself in the side, perhaps in an unfamiliar position. Normally a winger by trade, Brand has more recently featured in an attacking central midfield role for Germany, settling seamlessly into her new position. “I really enjoyed it. I hope I get to play there more often.”
Many promising teenagers fail to materialise into stars, but Brand has already made great progress in her fledging career, and we can expect her to hit the headlines in Germany’s World Cup qualifying campaign.
Sjoeke Nusken
Club: Chelsea
Position: Midfield
Although Germany are spoilt for choice in midfield, Wuck values Nusken’s leadership and her “way of giving orders”. She is another player who made the step-up to the first team at a tender age, and she’s now vice-captain even though she will only turn 25 next week.
A treble winner with Chelsea and a two-time German tennis champion at U-9 and U-10 level, Nusken has endured a stop-start season in England. Nonetheless, despite often being consigned to the bench by her club, she started in Germany’s Nations League final against Spain. With her tenacious tackling and excellent reading of the game, her younger compatriots will need to fight tooth and nail if they are to take Nusken’s spot in the centre of the park.
