The Germany national team’s first away trip since becoming World Champions in Brazil is a short trip east. Joachim Löw’s men take on Poland in their second EURO 2016 qualifier this evening in Warsaw (20:45 CEST). DFB.de has all the facts and figures ahead of the clash.
Stats I: World Champions Germany travel to Poland in their first away game of this international campaign in EURO 2016 qualifying in Warsaw. The match against Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski’s side is the 895th fixture that Germany have played. There have been 520 wins, 181 draws and 193 defeats since their first match on 5th April 1908. The goal record from all 894 of Germany’s games, in which 913 players have featured for them, reads 2011:1064.
Stats II: Poland will be the 115th match for Joachim Löw since he first took charge of the Germany national side in August 2006. His record? 78 wins, 20 draws and 16 losses. He has deployed 97 different players in these 114 matches and given 72 players their debut in a Germany shirt. Debutant number 73 could be Bayer Leverkusen’s Karim Bellarabi, who has been called up for the first time.
Stats III: It will be the 19th fixture between the two sides and the statistics speak for themselves. Germany haven’t tasted defeat in 18 of these encounters – they’ve won twelve of these and drawn six. The goal record of 31:9 speaks volumes for Germany. You don’t have to go that far back for the last clash between the two sides. Löw’s men drew 0-0 with Poland in Hamburg on May 2014, fielding lots of debutants in an experimental side around four weeks prior to the World Cup.
Record players: Lothar Matthäus is unrivalled in this statistic. The former World Footballer of the Year featured 150 times for the Germany national side between 1980 and 2000. Lukas Podolski can boast the most appearances among current Germany players, following the retirements of Miroslav Klose (137) and Philipp Lahm (113). Bastian Schweinsteiger (108), who misses these games due to injury, is the only other current Germany international with more than 100 caps to his name.
Record goalscorers: Miroslav Klose leads the all-time top scoring charts for Germany with 71 goals, followed by Gerd Müller (68). Müller only made 62 appearances for the Germany national side though, with Klose appearing 137 times. Lukas Podolski has scored the most goals among players in the current squad (47), Thomas Müller (24) and Mesut Özil (18) both trail him.
Kit: The Germany national side will wear the red and black striped kit in Poland, made by Adidas, for the first time since that memorable 7-1 victory over hosts Brazil in the World Cup semi-final – this time there’ll be four stars above the German badge.
Referee: Portuguese Pedro Proença will officiate the fixture and also refereed three games at the recent World Cup.
