Why Jurgen Klopp’s ‘one of 83 million’ cap was significant as he names two Germany squads

Jurgen Klopp has named two separate Germany squads for the upcoming Nations League matches in his first act as head coach.

Ahead of the four matches against the Netherlands, Serbia and two games against Greece, Klopp has called up 44 players in two different groups.

That list comprises 16 players who have yet to make an international appearance for Germany, including Said El Mala of Koln, Max Rosenfelder, Philipp Treu and Derry Scherhant from Freiburg, and Celtic midfielder Mika Baur.

Other notable decisions include the omission of Stuttgart forward Deniz Undav, explained by Klopp as fitness-related, and his announcement that captain Joshua Kimmich will be used as a midfielder, having previously been utilized as a right-back by Julian Nagelsmann.

Nagelsmann resigned as Germany’s head coach following their World Cup last-32 stage elimination by Paraguay.

Marc-Andre ter Stegen, currently on loan at Ajax from Barcelona has been confirmed as first choice goalkeeper, while there are recalls for Karim Adeyemi, Leeds United’s Anton Stach and Brentford forward Kevin Schade.

One squad will be used for the first two games, against the Netherlands in Amsterdam next Thursday, September 24, and against Greece in Augsburg three days later, on September 27.

The second group will be used for the match against Serbia in Munich on October 1 and the away trip to face Greece, in Thessaloniki on October 4.

Klopp also had a political message at his press conference, wearing a baseball cap which read “one of 83 million” in the colours of the German flag. The country is enduring a fractious political period and the far-right Alternative for Deutschland party recently achieved a significant electoral victory in Saxony-Anhalt.

In response, Klopp used his press conference to preach unity. Asked about his cap and its significance, he said: “We need to rediscover the fun in all of this. I hope I won’t have to talk about political matters in the future. But I want to reclaim the flag for us. So that people feel happy and fortunate to live in this wonderful country.

“I don’t want to leave national pride to the wrong people. It fills me with pride to do this job. When we spend time focused on football, it’s meant to foster a sense of community and make us feel better. We have to create that atmosphere. But we also need people who embrace it.”

What was the significance of Klopp’s cap?

Klopp’s baseball cap is going to be interpreted as a response to the state election results in Saxony-Anhalt. The far-right AfD party won over 43 per cent of the popular vote and a majority, furthering a trend for their growing support in the region and across East Germany as a whole.

But this is just the most recent issue and, in any case, the AfD cannot be described as only having prominence in the old east. Their anti-immigration, nationalistic rhetoric plays in other parts of the country, too, particularly in areas of industrial decline and that Saxony-Anhalt election result did not occur in isolation; the AfD have been polling strongly at state and federal level for several years. For many, that is a source of considerable angst and the basis for anger and division.

But there’s a more general issue, too. What is the acceptable form of patriotism in Germany? What does the flag mean to different people? The legacy of national socialism makes these issues highly complicated to begin with, but as the country changes and deals with modern issues such as multiculturalism, symbols of nationalism or declarations of national pride can be interpreted in different ways or co-opted with malignant intent.

That nebulousness is a symptom of a divided nation. There are many different perspectives on what Germany is and what it should be. Not forgetting, of course, that it is a federal country to begin with, built from states with their own regional identities and, consequently, contrasting perspectives on the changing political climate.

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