Key game for Germany: U21 meets France in the European Championship semi-finals!

Key game for Germany: U21 meets France in the European Championship semi-finals!

Football fans in Cologne can look forward to an exciting semi-final of the U21 European Championship. On Wednesday at 9 p.m. the German U21 national team will face France in the Košice Football Arena. The team fought its way into the semi-finals in an impressive manner - in the quarter-finals, Germany beat Italy 3-2 after extra time. The broadcast of the game starts at 8:15 p.m. You can follow the action live on SAT.1, Joyn and ran.de, and if you don't have a ticket yet, you should grab it quickly in the official UEFA ticket shop, because demand is high.

In the history of this exciting duel, Germany has only achieved two wins against France in 14 encounters. The last international match in 2024 ended in a 2-2 draw. The last European Championship duel in 2006, when Germany lost 3-0, is particularly bitter in the memory. Nevertheless, Germany can look back on a strong semi-final history: they have made it to this round eight times and won seven semi-finals - their only defeat was against Portugal in 2015.

Strong opponents and top scorers

France, who finished second behind Slovenia in qualifying, excelled by scoring 22 goals while conceding just six. In the current tournament, the team defeated, among others, Georgia (3:2) and Poland (4:1) and also left Denmark behind in the quarterfinals with a 3:2 win. Particularly noteworthy is Djaoui Cissé from Stade Rennes, who is France's top scorer in the tournament with three goals.

On the German side, Nick Woltemade from VfB Stuttgart is the most dangerous player in the squad with five goals of his own in the tournament so far. Coach Antonio di Silva's experienced squad includes 23 players, although some players are missing due to commitments at the Club World Cup, including the talents Jonas Urbig and Maximilian Beier. Goalkeeper Nahuel Noll has not yet played for the U21s, but is being kept in the background.

The path to the final

A win against France takes Germany into the final, where they would face England or the Netherlands. The final is scheduled for Saturday in Bratislava; there will be no game for third place this year. Germany has already won the U21 European Championship three times, most recently in 2021, and also has the titles from 2009 and 2017 under their belt - another reason why expectations of the team are high.

The U21 European Championships will take place in Slovakia from June 11th to 28th, and the German team qualified as quarter-finalists after two wins in the first group games. The group opponents were Slovenia, the Czech Republic and the defending champions England. Now the focus is on the decisive semi-final game against the team from France, and the fans are expecting an exciting duel.

For more information about the games and goal scorers, simply follow the links: DFB, Kicker, and Olympics.