Hansi Flick is pushing ahead with his plans for the countdown to the 2024 home European Championship and is apparently also thinking of a test trip to the USA.
“That would be conceivable, but I don’t know if it will be in June,” said the national coach when asked about the national soccer team’s summer plans. After the sobering World Cup preliminary round, Flick only has dates for test international matches until the home tournament in almost 18 months, ten of them in the coming year. The first games are scheduled for the end of March 2023.
One thing is certain: the third next international match will be the 1000th in DFB history since 1908 – a special date that will probably be celebrated with a home game. Here, too, the DFB has not yet announced any details. The first opponents and venues for the coming year were usually announced by December at the latest.
“Coaches have certain wishes”
“We are in the process of exchanging ideas, we coaches have certain wishes, now we are seeing whether they can be fulfilled,” said Flick in an interview with the German Press Agency about his plans. A trip overseas in the middle of the season required special compromises with the Bundesliga clubs. This may also be an issue for the advisory group that has just been formed around the Bundesliga makers Oliver Kahn from FC Bayern Munich and Matthias Sammer from Borussia Dortmund.
The other game dates after the March and June games are for the DFB selection in September, October and November. The latter was too late for a longer trip abroad, said Flick. The European Championship groups for the finals from June 14 to July 14, 2024 will be drawn in Hamburg on December 2nd.
The DFB team made their last trip to the USA in May and June 2013 with Flick as assistant to national coach Joachim Löw, playing games against Ecuador (4:2) and the USA (3:4). Most World Cup games will take place in the USA in 2026. Other hosts are Mexico and Canada.
The current search for test match opponents is made more difficult because the European competitors have no or only very few free international game slots due to their fixed dates in the European Championship qualifiers and the final round of the Nations League. Possible opponents in autumn would be France, England or Austria. Belgium would also be available in March.
