Germany lineup vs. Slovakia: Predicted XI for 2026 World Cup qualifier including two Premier League players

Julian Nagelsmann will be without a host of injured players when Germany begin their 2026 World Cup qualification campaign away against Slovakia on Thursday evening.

Jamal Musiala, Kai Havertz, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Nico Schlotterbeck, Niklas Sule, Benjamin Henrichs, Tim Kleindienst and Tom Bischof are all sidelined with injuries. Nathaniel Brown, Max Rosenfelder and Nicolas Kuhn were all considered for a first senior call-up, but they are also unavailable through injury.

However, Real Madrid’s Antonio Rudiger is one of four players - along with Angelo Stiller, Jamie Leweling and Nadiem Amiri - who have returned to the senior setup, and the centre-back could be handed a start alongside Jonathan Tah.

Nagelsmann has confirmed that Oliver Baumann will be his number one goalkeeper, with the 35-year-old therefore set to earn his fifth international cap between the sticks on Thursday ahead of Alexander Nubel and Finn Dahmen.

Augsburg's Dahmen is one of three uncapped players to be called up to the 23-man squad along with Eintracht Frankfurt’s Nnamdi Collins and Mainz 05’s Paul Nebel. The latter two will both be pushing to make their debuts against Slovakia, but they are likely to begin as substitutes.

Nagelsmann is expected to stick with 101-capped skipper Joshua Kimmich at right-back as Maximilian Mittelstadt and David Raum battle for a start at left-back, while Leon Goretzka and either Stiller or Pascal Gross are the most likely players to link arms in centre-midfield.

Florian Wirtz is yet to contribute to a goal since completing his big-money move to Liverpool, but the attacking midfielder is in contention to start in the number 10 role on Thursday, while Serge Gnabry and Karim Adeyemi operate on the flanks, should Nagelsmann begin with a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Up front, Newcastle United’s club-record signing Nick Woltemade, who scored six goals in five games at the European Under-21 Championship this summer, is in line to earn his third senior cap ahead of Niclas Fullkrug.

Germany possible starting lineup: Baumann; Kimmich, Tah, Rudiger, Raum; Goretzka, Stiller; Adeyemi, Wirtz, Gnabry; Woltemade