Trinks in the second-tier
Florian Trinks (Greuter Fürth), who grabbed the winner in the final, made his Bundesliga debut for Werder Bremen against Bayern München in 2011. Manuel Janzer (1. FC Heidenheim), like Trinks, is currently playing in the second tier. Kevin Scheidhauer’s MSV Duisburg have achieved promotion to the second tier. Matthias Zimmermann has been helping Borussia Mönchengladbach U23s try to gain promotion to the third division. They won the Regionalliga West and will now face the Regionalliga Nord champions in a promotion play-off.
Gerrit Nauber (Sportfreunde Lotte), Abu-Bakarr Kargbo (Schwarz-Weiß Rehden) and Niko Opper (Alemannia Aachen) are also currently playing in the Regionalliga. Robert Labus, who played in the Hamburger SV academy alongside Mustafi, and Bienvenue Basala-Mazana, who has played in the Europa League for Austrian side SV Ried, are currently without clubs.
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From Magdeburg to the Maracana. Mario Götze and Shkodran Mustafi managed to fulfil their dreams. They lifted the U17 European Championship in their own country and five years later lifted the World Cup in Rio de Janeiro. The story is especially sweet for Götze, who grabbed the extra time winner against Argentina in last year’s final.
The current U17s are hoping to follow in their footsteps and can take a step in the right direction on Friday (19:00 CEST). They face France in Bulgaria and could win their first title since 2009, when they beat the Netherlands in the final. On that occasion extra time was also needed. The winner was once again scored by a substitute.
Two went on to lift the World Cup
Florian Trinks was brought on for Kevin Scheidhauer in the 59th minute. 38 minutes later he made it 2-1, which was enough to see Germany lift the title. The Dutch took the lead through Luc Castaignos (7’). It was only the second goal conceded by Marc-André ter Stegen in the tournament. The DFB Team went into the final with a 100% record. During the group stage they beat Turkey (3-1), England (4-0) and the Netherlands (2-0) before coming out on top against Italy in the semis (2-0). Götze scored against England; Mustafi netted against Turkey. Lennart Thy (34’) grabbed the equaliser in the final.
Two of the players went on to lift the World Cup. FC Bayern’s Mario Götze and Valencia’s Shkodran Mustafi have won the biggest prize in world football. Marc-André ter Stegen’s Barcelona side will compete in this year’s Champions League final. His deputy in 2009, Bernd Leno, reached the last 16 of the competition with Bayer Leverkusen. Both are hoping to be involved in this year’s U21 European Championship. Yunus Malli is also likely to be involved in the Czech Republic. In 2009, like ter Stegen, he represented Borussia Mönchengladbach. The attacker is now a Mainz 05 player.
U 17 captain Yabo hoping to reach the Bundesliga
Marvin Plattenhardt is also in the top flight. He made his Bundesliga debut for 1. FC Nürnberg and now represents Hertha BSC. Reinhold Yabo, who captained the side in 2009, is currently playing for Karlsruher SC, who are challenging for Bundesliga promotion. He has previously made five top-tier appearances for 1. FC Köln.
Lennart Thy and Christopher Buchtmann are playing together currently and are attempting to fight the relegation from the second division. Both players scored in the recent 5-1 win over Bochum. Thy made his Bundesliga debut for Bremen before moving on to the Hamburg based club. Buchtmann moved to England where he represented Liverpool and Fulham, before returning to Germany to play for Köln.
Trinks in the second-tier
Florian Trinks (Greuter Fürth), who grabbed the winner in the final, made his Bundesliga debut for Werder Bremen against Bayern München in 2011. Manuel Janzer (1. FC Heidenheim), like Trinks, is currently playing in the second tier. Kevin Scheidhauer’s MSV Duisburg have achieved promotion to the second tier. Matthias Zimmermann has been helping Borussia Mönchengladbach U23s try to gain promotion to the third division. They won the Regionalliga West and will now face the Regionalliga Nord champions in a promotion play-off.
Gerrit Nauber (Sportfreunde Lotte), Abu-Bakarr Kargbo (Schwarz-Weiß Rehden) and Niko Opper (Alemannia Aachen) are also currently playing in the Regionalliga. Robert Labus, who played in the Hamburger SV academy alongside Mustafi, and Bienvenue Basala-Mazana, who has played in the Europa League for Austrian side SV Ried, are currently without clubs.