World Cup countdown and dreams of a comeback

While some Green-Whites are beginning to enjoy a well-deserved break from the footballing calendar, others are only getting started on another adventure with their national sides. A Werder trio are gearing up for the FIFA World Cup in Canada, the USA and Mexico, and another SVW star is looking forward to making a long-awaited return to the fold for his country. Here’s an overview of who’s going to be where and when.

Jens Stage was forced to watch Denmark on the television as the national team failed to beat Czechia in their crucial World Cup qualifying play-off tie. The 29-year-old can at least look forward to making a return to the side next week, with the nomination marking his first involvement since October 2024. “I’m delighted to have been called back up to the Denmark national team,” said Stage. “I’ve always tried to put in the effort, be patient with it and make a good case for a call-up through my performances. The fact that it’s been such a long break before being called up again makes it all the nicer.” Werder’s ‘Danish Dynamite’ and his compatriots will face DR Congo (3rd June, 20:00 CEST) and Ukraine (7th June, 18:30 CEST).

Austria’s Marco Friedl and Romano Schmid will head to the ÖFB-Campus in Vienna on 27th May to begin their preparations for the upcoming World Cup, before taking part in a friendly fixture against Tunisia on 1st June (kick-off 20:45 CEST). Ralf Rangnick’s side will then make their way to the USA, landing in Los Angeles on 4th June before heading north to their tournament camp in Santa Barbara. With their previously planned friendly against Guatemala now cancelled, Austria will prepare directly for their first game of the group stage, which will see them take on Jordan in Santa Clara on 17th June (06:00 CEST). Further fixtures will then follow against current World Champions Argentina (22nd June, 19:00 CEST, Dallas) and Algeria (28th June, 04:00 CEST, Kansas City) as the team try to progress as far as possible in their first World Cup appearance since 1998.

Yukinari Sugawara and Japan are also gearing up for their World Cup summer. The side will face Iceland in Tokyo for one last friendly fixture before heading to MLS outfit Nashville SC, which the Japan Football Association have chosen as their base camp for this summer’s tournament. Sugawara and Co. will kick off their World Cup campaign against the Netherlands (14th June, 22:00 CEST, Dallas) before taking on Tunisia (21st June, 06:00 CEST, Monterrey) and Sweden (26th June, 01:00 CEST, Dallas). Samurai Blue will surely be hoping to make history this year by qualifying for their first ever quarter-final at the tournament.

Karl Hein is preparing to play in the Baltic Cup with Estonia this June, with a semi-final against Faroe Islands (6th June) hopefully seeing them progress to the final against either Latvia or Lithuania. Jovan Milošević will want to earn his second ever senior cap for Serbia as they take part in friendly fixtures against Cape Verde (31st May) and Mexico (5th June). Mick Schmetgens has been called up by Germany U19 again, with head coach Christian Wörns’ team playing a friendly tie against Slovakia (27th May) before heading into the European U19 Championship in Wales at the end of June (28th June to 11th July). Stefan Smarkalev and Bulgaria U21 will face North Macedonia in a friendly meeting (30th May).

International fixtures at a glance