The national team players met up on Monday for the start of the first international break since Euro 2024. On Saturday, Germany begin their UEFA Nations League campaign against Hungary in Düsseldorf (kick-off 20:45 CEST). Joshua Kimmich will lead the team out onto the pitch as the new captain of the national side. Ahead of the game, he spoke about both the current personal and sporting matters.

Joshua Kimmich on...

…the current squad: Unfortunately, a lot has changed for us since the European Championship. One or two players from that team have retired and also from the staff. It’s important that we managed to get people excited during the Euros and we want to build on that now. That’s the goal for Saturday.

…becoming captain: It is already such a proud moment to get to play for your country – it’s something that you always dream of. At that point, becoming the captain is such a distant thing. It really is something truly special. It means so much to me and the people I’m close to that I've been shown this faith by the coaching staff. I want to repay that faith but it won’t be a one man show. I’m in a strong leadership triangle with Kai (Havertz) and Toni (Rüdiger), as well working alongside a new team council. Some important players have left, so we need players who want to take responsibility in winning games or when things aren’t going so well. That’s part of it. We need to get as many players as possible into that mindset.

...Angelo Stiller and Aleksandar Pavlovic: Both have been developed in intense environments. It’s clear that Angelo is confident, just like Pavlo. Both are technically strong and have a good passing game, and you can tell with both of them that they want to play football. It’s important to have young players who are hungry and just enjoy playing.

…the aims for the Nations League: You only view doing well in the Nations League as unimportant if you aren’t doing well. Spain won the Nations League and they got really excited by it. Of course, we have the World Cup in the back of our minds to some extent, but that is still quite far off. Other countries have shown how to be successful, not just starting to play good football at the European Championships or World Cup. That was part of a process. It’s always good for a team be successful. Nobody in this squad can say that they’ve won a title before, and none of us have anything to be held back by so we just want to capitalise on every opportunity. We haven’t been so successful in the past and we want to change that.