<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="1" > Sports Weekly All-Media Reporter Huang Sijun</h1>
With the Bundesliga coming to an end, German football officially switched to European Cup time. Today the German Football Association announced the number of the German team's 26-man squad for the European Championship, and several star players have unexpectedly changed their numbers. One of the most surprising things is that Thomas Müller, who returned after more than two years, did not wear the no. 13, but chose his No. 25 at Bayern! Müller's Bayern team-mate Gnabry took over the No. 10 that originally belonged to Brent, Verner re-selected no. 11 due to Reus' defeat, and another Chelsea player, Rudiger, changed from No. 16 to No. 2.
Mueller returned to square one
Since Birkhoff became the head of the national team (national team head), the German team has gone further and further down the road of commercialization, and one of the important manifestations is that the star players will have a fixed jersey number for a relatively long period of time (at least one major competition cycle), which is self-evident in promoting the sales of jerseys. Among them, Mueller is undoubtedly a model. Since the 2010 World Cup took over the no. 13 shirt from captain Barack, he has been synonymous with Germany's No. 13. And it's no secret that legendary goalscorer Gad Müller also wore the number 13 shirt when he represented West Germany at the 1970 and 1974 World Cups and the 1972 European Championships. For German football, the "No. 13" and "Müller" are simply a spiritual totem, an important symbol of the two golden ages.
The white-clad No. 13 Müller – belongs to the two golden years of German football and is an important symbol.
Since Müller was "asked out" by Loew in early 2019, the No. 13 shirt has been taken over by Leipzig RB defender Klostermann. In Klosterman's absence for some reason, there will be other players who will temporarily choose the 13th. For example, during the international break last November, Klostermann was defeated by a knee cut, and Eindhoven left-back Philippe Max made his debut for the national team in the no. 13.
Now, with Mueller's return, the outside world thought that the 13th would return to its original owner. Unexpectedly, Müller played the no. 25 idea because the number of applicants for this European Championship was temporarily increased from 23 to 26! In this regard, many fans left messages on the Internet to express their confusion and reluctance. Muller, who does not wear the German team No. 13, is really too much against the law! But Müller's choice is also entirely understandable, after all, he has been Bayern's No. 25 since his debut in 2008/09 and has not changed. Compared to the 13th, the 25th is obviously his favorite number and his first sign.
In March 2010, he made his national team debut, and Müller wore the number 25 shirt.
And many fans have forgotten that in fact, when he made his national team debut in a friendly match with Argentina in March 2010, Muller was wearing the number 25 shirt! (Including at the German U21 team, he also wore the number 25 shirt several times.) Now that he's starting over in Germany, wouldn't it be nice that he decided to go back to square one?
There are also 3 senior generals who change numbers
Mueller gave up the no. 13, and Klosterman did not continue to wear the no. 13. At this European Championship, midfielder all-rounder Jonas Hoffmann will be the new German team No. 13 – he wears the No. 23 in Borussia Mönchengladbach. Klostermann, who does not wear the number 13, can wear back to the number 16 in Leipzig, because Rudiger gave up wearing the number 16 for more than 6 years and wore the number 2 instead. Since Ram announced his retirement from the national team after the 2014 World Cup, Rudiger has taken over the "short team" number 16. At Euro 2016, Rudiger was selected for the 23-man squad and then withdrew due to injury, and Jonathan Ta, who was temporarily selected to join the team, took over the No. 16. Later, whether it was the 2017 Confederations Cup or the 2018 World Cup, Rudiger wore the number 16 shirt. This number has become his mark on the national team.
During the international break in March, two Chelsea players, Rudiger and Havertz, wore the number 16 and number 10 shirts respectively.
In contrast, since the left-wing all-rounder Marcel Janssen faded out, the number 2, which was originally a symbol of the main defender, has been less popular. At Euro 2012, the fledgling Gundogan chose the no. 2 left by the big brothers. At the 2014 World Cup, it was the turn of another Dortmund player, Groskloitz, to choose No. 2. However, neither Gundogan, who plays as a midfielder, nor the "Big Cross", who is a winger all-rounder, will not have the opportunity to appear in the tournament in the No. 2 shirt. Then at Euro 2016 and the 2017 Confederations Cup, substitute centre-back Mustafi chose No. 2. By the 2018 World Cup, it became substitute left-back Platenhardt wearing the No. 2. Now, Rudiger, who is very promising to play in this European Championship, suddenly changed his no. 2 at Chelsea, which is really unexpected.
In addition to Mueller and Rudiger, Gnabry and Werner also changed numbers. Gnabry wore several numbers through the national team, and at the 2016 Rio Olympics, he wore the national Olympic team's No. 17 shirt. In the World Preliminary Round, which swept San Marino 8–0 away in November 2016, Gnabry made his national team debut with the No. 8 and scored a hat-trick. He then returned to Germany's U21 (wearing no. 11 at euro 2017) and later suffered several untimely injuries until October 2018 when he was finally called up again by Loew. Losing 1-2 away to France's UEFA Nations League, he chose the Number 6 shirt as the starting centre-forward! However, since November 2018, Gnabry has become a regular candidate for the 20th, and wearing this number to sit firmly in the main center position, the performance is obvious to all. Had the European Championship been held as scheduled last summer, Gnabry would almost certainly have been Germany's No. 20, and many fans had bought his No. 20 shirt early in the morning.
When the European Championship home shirt was launched, Gnabry and Werner wore the nos. 20 and 9 respectively for promotional photos.
Now, with Brandt, who had been the owner of the 10th, lost the election, Gnabry suddenly took over the number that symbolized the core of the midfield, which is quite puzzling. After all, as early as the international competition week in March, Brent had already lost the election, and it was Havertz who wore the number 10, and the left wing Wei Gossens wore the number 7 - whether it was the 7th or the 10th, it was a big choice, and it was given priority to Gnabry, who was already an absolute main force. As a result, he did not choose the No. 7 (previously No. 22) that he had only changed this season at Bayern, but chose the No. 10, which was not very "right" with his position and technical characteristics. Due to his junior qualifications in the national team, Havertz has not had a fixed number before, and will now wear the number 7 to compete for the first time, and Gossens has chosen the number 20 that originally belonged to Gnabry. The final choice of these 3 players is really confusing, especially the "misplaced choice" of Havertz and Gnabry is simply to force the death of obsessive-compulsive disorder!
In the 2017 Confederations Cup, No. 11 Werner took the Golden Boot.
In contrast, it makes perfect sense that Werner no longer wears a number 9, but changes back to number 11. After all, whether it is at RB Leipzig or Chelsea, Werner is wearing the number 11 shirt. He was also number 11 when he represented the national team for the first time in the 2017 Confederations Cup. In that tournament, Werner not only won the championship with the team, but also won the Golden Boot with 3 goals and 2 assists. It was only because of the return of "Old 11" Reus that Werner changed to No. 9 at the 2018 World Cup, and has been wearing No. 9 ever since. It's just that compared to the 11th, the 9th is obviously not very auspicious for Werner. Now that Reuss is not back, the Chelsea striker has decisively switched back to the No. 11, leaving the No. 9 to Monaco striker Flanders, who took the last train.
Hummels is still Number 5
This is the first time that the German team has changed its numbers on such a large scale before the registration for the competition. Although players have their reasons, consumers who have purchased jerseys and printed their numbers in advance (including small merchants who have ordered the main players' numbers in advance) may suffer losses and have nowhere to seek redress. Of course, with the exception of Müller, Rudiger, Gnabry and Werner, the numbers of the other major players remain the same – Hummels, who returned with Müller, is still the previous No. 5, captain Neuer is of course no. 1, while Güntel, Kimmich, Kroos, Jules, Goretzka, Sane, Gundogan and Emre Jan are No. 4, No. 6, No. 8, No. 15, No. 18, No. 19, No. 21 and No. 23 respectively.
Kimmich and Goretzka are number 6 and number 18 both in the national team and at Bayern.
Goretska was Number 14 at the 2018 World Cup, and took over the No. 6 from the fading Khedira after the tournament. But in the international week of March 2019, he switched numbers with Kimmich, who was fixed at the back by Loew – "Chicken Brother" wore a number 21 at Euro 2016, and later because Kroos changed from no. 18 to no. 8, he participated in the 2017 Confederations Cup and the 2018 World Cup as no. 18.
In the season that just ended, Kimmich took bayern's no.6 shirt (previously No. 32) from the departing Thiago. So whether it's at Bayern or the national team, the good pairs of Kimmich and Goretzka are no. 6 and no. 18. But starting the new season, Goretzka will take over Bayern's no. 8 shirt from the departing Xavi Martinez. It is believed that once Kroos retires from the national team, the "magnetic card" will also wear no. 8 in the national team.
German national team European Championship 26-man list and numbers:
Goalkeeper: No. 1 Neuer (Bayern Munich/ 0 goals in 98 games), No. 12 Leno (Arsenal/ 0 goals in 8 games), No. 22 Trapp (Frankfurt/ 0 goals in 5 games)
Defenders: No. 2 Rudiger (Chelsea/1 goal in 40 games), No. 3 Halstenberg (Leipzig RB/1 goal in 8 games), No. 4 Güntel (Mönchengladbach/2 goals in 38 games), No. 5 Hummels (Dortmund/5 in 70 games), No. 15 Jules (Bayern Munich/1 goal in 29 games), No. 16 Klostermann (Leipzig RB/12 games 0 goals), No. 20 Gossens (Atalanta/5 games 0 goals), No. 24 Robin Koch (Leeds United/7 games 0 goals), 26 Günter (Freiburg/ 0 goals per game)
Midfielders: No. 6 Kimmich (Bayern Munich/ 3 goals in 53 games), No. 7 Havertz (Chelsea/3 goals in 13 games), No. 8 Kroos (Real Madrid/17 goals in 101 games), No. 13 Jonas Hoffmann (0 goals in 2 games), No. 14 Musiara (Bayern Munich/2 games 0 goals), No. 17 Neuhaus (Borussia Mönchengladbach/1 goal in 5 games), No. 18 Goretzka (Bayern Munich/13 goals in 32 games), Gundogan (Manchester City/10 goals in 45 games) No. 23 Emre Can (Borussia Dortmund/1 goal in 33 games)
Forwards: No. 9 Flanders (Monaco/10 games), No. 10 Gnabry (Bayern Munich/15 goals in 20 games), No. 11 Verner (Chelsea/15 goals in 38 games), No. 19 Leroy Sane (Bayern Munich/6 goals in 28 games), No. 25 Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich/38 goals in 100 games)