German U21 without Collins and Gruda against Greece

The German U21 national team will have to do without its key players Brajan Gruda and Nnamdi Collins in the qualifiers for the European Football Championship. Gruda will be missing on Friday (18:00/ProSieben Maxx) in Jena against Greece and four days later in Northern Ireland due to knee problems with which he traveled from the Premier League from the last game with Brighton & Hove Albion. Collins, who was recently promoted to senior international, has so far stayed at home due to an infection.

Guaranteed call-up for Bayern youngster Bischof

U21 coach Antonio Di Salvo is hoping that full-back Collins will be fit for Tuesday's game in Belfast (6.30pm/ProSieben Maxx). Due to the absences, the coach has called up Tim Drexler from Nuremberg and Julian Pauli from Dresden. Like FC Bayern's Tom Bischof, both are yet to make an U21 appearance. The latter has been guaranteed a start by Di Salvo. "He's a player I have high hopes for and I believe he can give our game a structure that will help us," said Di Salvo.

The coach left it open as to who will lead the team as the new captain. Aljoscha Kemlein from 1. FC Union Berlin and Finn Jeltsch from VfB Stuttgart, who wore the captain's armband in the starting eleven for the international matches in September, are missing this time due to injury.

German team favorites in qualifying

Di Salvo's team got off to a successful start in qualifying with a 5-0 win over Latvia in September. The next European U21 Championship will take place in Albania and Serbia in 2027. In their qualifying group, the German team will also face Georgia and Malta as favorites.

The nine group winners and the best group runner-up will qualify for the final round. The eight remaining group runners-up will compete in play-offs to determine the last four finalists.