Musiala, Wirtz receive first call-ups to Germany squad

Reuters - Teenage midfielders Jamal Musiala of Bayern Munich and Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen received maiden call-ups to the Germany squad as coach Joachim Loew announced his 26-man squad on Friday for this month's World Cup qualifiers.

Stuttgart-born Musiala, 18, opted for Germany even though he was raised in England, who he represented at youth level.

The midfielder last month announced his decision to play for Germany hours after he became the youngest English scorer in the Champions League aged 17 when he netted for Bayern in a 4-1 last-16 first leg win over Lazio in Rome.

The 17-year-old Wirtz has represented Germany at several youth levels, including three games for the Under-21 side.

Germany's Premier League players arriving from England have been granted special exemptions from COVID-19 quarantine restrictions as long as they provide a negative test result not more than 24 hours old at the time of their departure.

Bayern Munich have seven players in the squad.

Germany host Iceland (March 25), visit Romania (March 28) and welcome North Macedonia (March 31) in what will be Loew's final World Cup qualifiers before he steps down at the end of this year's June-July European Championship.

Germany Squad

Goalkeepers: Bernd Leno (Arsenal), Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona), Kevin Trapp (Eintracht Frankfurt)

Defenders: Emre Can (Borussia Dortmund), Matthias Ginter (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Robin Gosens (Atalanta), Marcel Halstenberg (RB Leipzig), Lukas Klostermann (RB Leipzig), Philipp Max (PSV Eindhoven), Antonio Rudiger (Chelsea), Niklas Süle (Bayern Munich), Jonathan Tah (Bayer Leverkusen)

Midfielders: Leon Goretzka (Bayern Munich), Ilkay Gundogan (Manchester City), Kai Havertz (Chelsea), Jonas Hofmann (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich), Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen), Florian Neuhaus (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Amin Younes (Eintracht Frankfurt)

Forwards: Serge Gnabry (Bayern Munich), Leroy Sane (Bayern Munich), Timo Werner (Chelsea)