Despite being the reigning Bundesliga champions, Leverkusen still appears to be at a disadvantage compared to Bayern Munich in terms of the number of players called up to the German national team.

On the evening of May 16th, coach Julian Nagelsmann officially finalized the preliminary squad of 27 players for the German national team in preparation for the Euro 2024 tournament this summer. Besides ‘forgetting’ some stars, the 1987-born strategist allowed Die Mannschaft fans to admire top stars from big clubs. Among them, the majority of players come from Bundesliga teams, as evidenced by only 6 players coming from other leagues.

Looking at the list, one can easily notice an interesting fact: reigning Bundesliga champions Leverkusen only contribute 3 players, a stark contrast to Bayern Munich’s 7 players. Fans of ‘Die Mannschaft’ may question this, but if one regularly follows Nagelsmann’s matches, this is completely understandable.

Preliminary list of German national team participating in Euro 2024

Firstly, we can consider the coaching style of the German tactician. In the past, Julian Nagelsmann had a stint leading Bayern Munich from 2021 to 2023. In nearly 2 years in charge, the 37-year-old coach helped the team at Allianz Arena win the Bundesliga title 10 times consecutively in his first season. Having worked with top stars, Nagelsmann fully understands the qualities they bring to the national team, enabling them to progress far in a long campaign.

Julian Nagelsmann spent time working at Bayern Munich.

Furthermore, in terms of class, if we speak objectively, it can be affirmed that players from Bayern Munich’s roster tend to be “superior” to those from Leverkusen. Without delving into individual qualities, it’s noticeable that in every major event for the German national team, “Die Mannschaft” players from Bayern Munich often stand out.

Evidence of this is seen in the 2022 World Cup, where the former Bundesliga champions held a clear advantage with 7 players, whereas Leverkusen didn’t have a single player in the squad. One possible reason for this decision could be that at that time, the German national team wasn’t coached by Julian Nagelsmann but by Hansi Flick, who also previously managed Bayern Munich.

Germany’s 2022 World Cup participation list.

Finally, the coach himself affirmed that player selection isn’t based solely on high or low form but rather on suitability for the style of play he implements.

In the press conference following the announcement of the selected players, Julian Nagelsmann stated: “We tried to find the most suitable players for our style of play. The issue is simply which players fit best into our system. What do the substitutes need, what do they bring, what is the age structure behind them, what is their perspective? All of this impacts the entire team.”

Julian Nagelsmann chooses the right player according to his style of play.

This partly explains why the 37-year-old coach didn’t call up high-performing stars or former key players of the national team such as Mats Hummels, Julian Brandt, or Leon Goretzka.

Of course, this is just speculation to understand why Leverkusen has fewer players called up to the German national team compared to Bayern Munich. Additionally, the aforementioned call-up list by Coach Julian Nagelsmann is preliminary; no definite decisions have been made yet, and things may change as the tournament approaches.