Ibrahim Maza was once Germany’s. The Bayer Leverkusen attacking midfielder came through the DFB youth system, picked up the nickname “Mazadona”, and in October 2024 switched his international future to Algeria.

By the end of the group stage at this summer’s World Cup, the 20-year-old had completed more successful dribbles than any other player in the tournament, finishing ahead of Lamine Yamal and Jamal Musiala, with Vladimir Petković’s Algeria through to the Round of 32.

He is not an isolated case. Of the 23 players in Germany’s current U21 squad, 14 hold dual citizenship, and the list of youth graduates who have chosen somewhere else keeps growing: Juventus playmaker Kenan Yildiz and Eintracht Frankfurt forward Can Uzun for Turkey, Bayern Munich defender Josip Stanisic for Croatia, 18-year-old Berlin-born Matteo Palma for Italy, Paul Wanner for Austria, Malik Tillman for the United States.

How Turkey and Croatia recruit

Turkey has turned persuasion into an operation. Former federation chief Hamit Altintop personally pursued Yildiz and Uzun, and Turkish scouts tour German academies with the pitch that senior caps come quicker in Istanbul than in Frankfurt.

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Croatia’s method is different. Every spring the federation flies children of Croatian heritage living in Germany to an under-14 tournament in Vukovar, a city whose name still carries the weight of the Balkan War.

“When we bring the children to Vukovar, many of them only have a German passport,” Danijel Lucic of the Croatian federation told Goal.

By the time they go home, he says, they are asking their parents to secure them a Croatian passport. Lucic also takes personal credit for pushing Stanisic’s first Croatia call-up in 2021.

DFB wants cash when players switch

Andreas Rettig, the DFB managing director whose contract expires at the end of December, is pushing FIFA to make the switches hurt financially. He told German news agency dpa this week that national associations should be paid when a player they developed chooses another country.

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“It simply makes no sense to me why a player who has been coached primarily at his club for five years but also by the federation as a junior partner should be able to switch national associations for free,” Rettig said.

The DFB is examining whether a “coaching compensation” model could be introduced, but any such system would need FIFA’s approval.

Klopp picked up the phone

In the meantime Jürgen Klopp, who was named head coach of the German men’s team in July, has started making calls of his own. Borussia Mönchengladbach’s 17-year-old attacking midfielder Wael Mohya, born in Mettmann to Moroccan parents, had already been approached about joining Morocco’s November squad when Klopp personally intervened and called him up to the senior Germany squad.

Mohya told Morocco World News his parents were overwhelmed.

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“They even started crying,” he said.

Germany face Serbia this week before travelling to the Netherlands, and Mohya is in Klopp’s squad.

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