Head coach Joachim Löw handed international appearances to a total of 38 players throughout the 2016 international calendar, with eight of those making their first appearances for the national side. The most recent of those was Wolfsburg’s Yannick Gerhardt, who got his chance in the senior team in the 0-0 draw with Italy in Milan, while Benjamin Henrichs and Serge Gnabry made impressive first appearances in San Marino just a few days previously.
Overall, Löw’s side played sixteen matches throughout the year, accumulating eleven wins, two draws and just three defeats, which came in friendlies against England and Slovakia and the EURO 2016 semi-final against France. There were eleven clean sheets, including the last six games in a row, thereby equalling a fifty-year-old record - the last time Germany kept six consecutive clean sheets was back in 1966, when Helmut Schön was in charge.
The team conceded just ten goals over the 16 games, and scored 34, which were spread across 15 players. The top scorer among them was Thomas Müller, with five, while Mario Gomez got four. No player featured in all of the matches, although Jonas Hector and Thomas Müller played in 15, and Mario Götze in 14. Gladbach man Christoph Kramer made the briefest appearance, having been on the pitch for just one minute.
2016 international statistics
Player appearances: Jonas Hector (15 matches/1268 minutes), Thomas Müller (15/1234), Mario Götze (14/901), Mesut Özil (13/1093), Toni Kroos (12/1071), Sami Khedira (12/857), Manuel Neuer (11/1020), Joshua Kimmich (11/1004), Mats Hummels (11/930), Julian Draxler (11/844), Benedikt Höwedes (11/744), Jérôme Boateng (10/817), Mario Gomez (8/509), Bastian Schweinsteiger (7/311), Shkodran Mustafi (6/412), André Schürrle (6/116), Kevin Volland (5/155), Antonio Rüdiger (4/360), Marc-André ter Stegen (4/270), Ilkay Gündogan (4/240), Emre Can (4/223), Julian Brandt (4/152), Julian Weigl (4/144), Sebastian Rudy (3/270), Bernd Leno (3/180), Jonathan Tah (3/123), Max Meyer (3/116), Lukas Podolski (3/47), Serge Gnabry (2/113), Leroy Sané (2/102), Marco Reus (2/92), Leon Goretzka (2/72), Benjamin Henrichs (1/90), Karim Bellarabi (1/90), Yannick Gerhardt (1/90), Niklas Süle (1/57), Matthias Ginter (1/6), Christoph Kramer (1/1).
Debutants (8): Süle (vs. Finland); Kimmich, Weigl, Brandt (all vs. Slovakia); Tah (vs. England); Gnabry, Henrichs (both vs. San Marino); Gerhardt (vs. Italy).
Goals (34): Müller (5), Gomez (4), Kroos (3), Gnabry (3), Özil (3), Hector (3), Khedira (2), Draxler (2), Götze, Mustafi, Schweinsteiger, Boateng, Meyer, Kimmich, Volland.
Own goals (2): Lang (Hungary), Stefanelli (San Marino).
Penalties (2): Özil, Gomez.
Yellow cards (18): Hummels (3), Schweinsteiger (2), Can (2), Khedira (2), Özil (2), Boateng, Kimmich, Draxler, Mustafi, Kroos, Tah, Gündogan.
2017 international fixtures
22nd March, friendly: Germany vs. England, Dortmund, 20:45 CET
26th March, World Cup qualifying: Azerbaijan vs. Germany, 18:00 CEST
10th June, World Cup qualifying: Germany vs. San Marino, 20:45 CEST
17th June - 2nd July 2017: Confederations Cup in Russia (Germany have qualified as world champions)
1st September, World Cup qualifying: Czech Republic vs. Germany, 20:45 CEST
4th September, World Cup qualifying: Germany vs. Norway, 20:45 CEST
5th October, World Cup qualifying: Northern Ireland vs. Germany, 20:45 CEST
8th October, World Cup qualifying, Germany vs. Azerbaijan, 20:45 CEST
