Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 players on international duty - March 2025
Xavi Simons and Michael Olise were among the Bundesliga-based stars in international action during the March break. bundesliga.com recaps who was where, as well as a full club-by-club rundown of Germany-based players called up by their countries...
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Bundesliga & Bundesliga 2 players on international duty.
Leverkusen duo star in Gibraltar win
Patrik Schick and Matěj Kovář both starred as Czech Republic beat Gibraltar 4-0 on Tuesday evening, with Schick scoring their second goal. They came into this game off the back of a 2-1 win against the Faroe Islands, with Schick netting both goals that time around. Hoffenheim's David Jurásek was also part of the squad.
Hannover's Rabbi Matondo was a late substitute for Wales as they drew 1-1 with North Macedonia last night. He netted the third goal of their 3-1 win against Kazakhstan in their previous outing.
Thomas Tuchel's England made it two World Cup qualifying wins from two with a 3-0 home victory over Latvia. Harry Kane of Bayern was among the scorers for the Three Lions.
Stuttgart striker Ermedin Demirović opened the scoring as Bosnia-Herzegovina beat Cyprus 2-1 in World Cup qualifying. St. Pauli's Nikola Vasilj was in goal for the Group H leaders, who have won their first two qualifiers.
Victory over Italy means that Germany will get to host the UEFA Nations League Finals in June. Julian Nagelsmann's men will take on Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal at the Allianz Arena on 4 June, with holders Spain against France in Stuttgart the following day. The third-place play-off will then be at the MHP Arena on 8 June, with the final in Munich the day after. The three previous editions of the Nations League were won by Portugal, France and Spain.
Alphonso Davies (pictured) captained Canada to third place in the Concacaf Nations League but was forced off injured after only 12 minutes of the 2-1 win against the USA in Inglewood. Gladbach's Joe Scally started for Mauricio Pochettino's side, while Gio Reyna of Dortmund came off the bench. Mexico claimed their first Nations League crown with a dramatic 2-1 final victory over Panama a few hours later.
Joshua Kimmich scored one and made two more in a thrilling quarter-final second leg in Dortmund. The hosts blew a 3-0 lead as Italy fought back to draw 3-3 on the night, but Nagelsmann's team advance 5-4 on aggregate.
Despite Cristiano Ronaldo's penalty miss, Portugal managed to overturn a 1-0 first leg loss to Denmark, ultimately prevailing 5-2 after extra time (agg: 5-3) to set up a semi-final showdown with Germany. Spain will contest the other tie after beating the Netherlands on penalties. Leipzig's Xavi pulled the scores back to 3-3 from the spot and sunk his penalty in the shootout, but the holders got the job done in sudden death. There was also heartache for Bayern's Josip Stanišić, who missed in the shootout as Croatia went out to France. Club-mate Michael Olise was on target in normal time as France won 2-0 on the night, having lost the first leg by the same scoreline. Dayot Upamecano - also of Bayern - scored the winning penalty.
There were Bundesliga players lining up on both sides as Türkiye won 3-0 in Budapest to claim a 6-1 aggregate win over Hungary and promotion to League A. Borussia Dortmund's Salih Özcan (pictured) came on in the second half for the visitors, with Stuttgart's Atakan Karazor and Can Uzun of Eintracht Frankfurt remaining on the bench. Willi Orbán started in Hungary's back three alongside Marton Dardai of Hertha, with brother Bence of Wolfsburg also handed his first senior cap with a start in midfield. Péter Gulácsi was an unused sub. Union's András Schäfer didn't feature, having scored Hungary's sole goal of the tie in Istanbul.
Wolfsburg's Konstantinos Koulierakis (pictured) and Dimitris Giannoulis of Augsburg played the full 90 minutes as Greece overturned a 1-0 first-leg deficit against Scotland and earned promotion to League A of the Nations League thanks to a 3-0 win at Hampden Park. Former Fortuna Düsseldorf winger Christos Tzolis got the third, while Bochum striker Georgios Masouras came on for the final 20 minutes.
A whole host of Bundesliga talent in the Austrian national side, including Konrad Laimer, Romano Schmid, and Nicolas Seiwald were defeated 2-0 (3-1 agg.) on the road in Serbia in the second leg of their Nations League play-off. Former Eintracht striker Luka Jović assisted the second goal for the Serbians.
Elvis Rexhbeçaj, Leart Paqarada and Florent Muslija started for Kosovo as they earned promotion to League B with a 3-1 victory over Iceland (5-2) on aggregate. Ísak Bergmann Jóhannesson of Düsseldorf started for Iceland. Heidenheim's Budu Zivzivadze came off the bench in Georgia's 6-1 win over Armenia as they stayed in League B with a 9-1 aggregate victory. And Benjamin Šeško (pictured) played through as Slovenia stayed up with a 1-0 aggregate win over Slovakia after extra-time in Ljubljana. Kiel's David Zec was an unused sub for the hosts, while Bochum's Matúš Bero started for Slovakia. Union's László Bénes came on in the second half, but fellow Kiel defender Dominik Javorček was an unused sub. Wolfsburg's Denis Vavro missed out through injury.
After suffering a surprise 2-0 Nations League quarter-final reverse in Split during the week, France completed a 2-0 win of their own at the Stade de France, meaning the game went into extra-time. An additional 30 minutes still couldn't decide the tie, and onto penalties it went, where France triumphed 5-4. Michael Olise scored a magnificent free-kick just after half-time before assisting Ousmane Dembélé for France's second. Dayot Upamecano then scored the final, decisive penalty to send them through to the semi-finals.
There was delight for three Bundesliga stars as Bosnia triumphed 1-0 away in Romania. Stuttgart danger man Ermedin Demirović led the line, whilst St. Pauli custodian Nikola Vasilj kept a clean sheet. However, Holstein Kiel's Armin Gigović grabbed the headlines as he grabbed the only goal of the game in the 14th minute.
Leverkusen custodian Lukáš Hrádecký celebrated a clean sheet as Finland captain in their World Cup qualifying win against Malta at the Ta Qali stadium. Augsburg's Frederik Jensen was also in from the get-go in Valletta. Next up for the Finns is a game against Lithuania on Monday.
Speaking of Austria, there was a warm welcome back for RB Leipzig's Xaver Schlager with the 27-year-old completing his recovery from the serious knee problems that have kept the midfielder sidelined for most of the season. Schlager joined his Leipzig teammates Nicolas Seiwald and Christoph Baumgartner in Austria's Nations League draw with Serbia.
Fans of the 05ers will have been delighted to see their duo of Jonathan Burkardt and Nadiem Amiri starting in Germany's 2-1 win against Italy. Yet there were also international appearances for Phillipp Mwene of Austria and and South Korea's Jae-sung Lee. The latter was involved in a 1-1 qualifying draw with Oman while Mwene's Austria drew by the same scoreline with Serbia, with Michael Gregoritsch of Freiburg scoring the game's opener in Vienna.
Bayern Leverkusen's Exequiel Palacios was brought on for the final 10 minutes of Argentina's 1-0, CONMEBOL FIFA World Cup qualifying win away to Uruguay. The defending world champions are currently top of the qualifying table with a six-point lead over Ecuador.
Bayern's Alphonso Davies will be eager for Canada to bounce back from their disappointing Concacaf Nations League semi-final loss against Mexico when Jesse Marsch's side play the USA in a third-place play-off on Sunday.
England began their FIFA World Cup qualifiers with a straightforward 2-0 win against Albania in European qualifying Group K with Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane on target with his nation's second goal of the night. The goal was the England all-time record scorer's 70th in 104 internationals and helped former Mainz, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel to begin his reign at the Three Lions helm with a victory. England next host Latvia on Monday.
The Augsburg striker was on target for Benin as World Cup qualifying resumed after a break of almost a year, opening the scoring against Zimbabwe in Durban. Although the match ended 2-2, the Benin captain's third goal of the campaign helped his side to go provisionally top of CAF qualifying Group C.
As England take on Albania at Wembley in the first match of their FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifying campaign, Bundesliga top scorer Harry Kane will be playing under former Bayern Munich boss Thomas Tuchel for the first time since they parted ways at the end of last season. The England captain set a host of records under Tuchel in his first season in Bavaria and will doubtless be looking for more of the same as the Three Lions get their World Cup qualifying campaign under way on Friday, with a second clash, against Lativa, to follow on Monday.
Wolfsburg's Joakim Mæhle (pictured) and Eintracht Frankfurt's Rasmus Kristensen played the full 90 minutes as Denmark took a 1-0 win at home to Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal in their UEFA Nations League quarter-final. Mæhle's team-mates for club and country, Andreas Skov Olsen and Jonas Wind, came on as second-half substitutes.
Hoffenheim's Andrej Kramarić missed a first-half penalty but his side, which also featured Bayern Munich right-back Josip Stanišić, still claimed a surprise 2-0 win over France in the first leg of their Nations League quarter-final in Split. Bayern pair Dayot Upamecano and Michael Olise came on as second-half substitutes but could not prevent the World Cup finalists falling to a defeat.
Bayer Leverkusen's Jeremie Frimpong laid on an assist for Tijani Reijnders as the Netherlands took the lead against Spain in their Nations League quarter-final first-leg. Leipzig's Xavi then came on as a substitute but Spain - for whom Bayer Leverkusen pair Alejandro Grimaldo and Aleix García were unused substitutes - levelled in stoppage time for a 2-2 draw in Rotterdam.
St. Pauli captain Jackson Irvine turned in a superb two-goal display in the 5-1 win over Indonesia that helped the Socceroos maintain their grip on second place (which qualifies directly for the finals) in the AFC's World Cup qualifying Group C. There were some nerves early when FC Copenhagen's Kevin Diks - who will move to Bundesliga side Borussia Mönchengladbach on a free this summer - fired a spot-kick off the post, but then Australia took over, with Irvine scoring their third and fifth goals.
Bundesliga stars help Japan to World Cup qualification
Runaway leaders in the AFC's 2026 World Cup qualifying Group C, Japan stitched up top spot in the group - and qualification for the finals in North America next year - with a 2-0 win over Bahrain at Saitama Stadium on Thursday. Gladbach stopper Ko Italkura, Bayern left-back Hiroki Ito and Freiburg winger Ritsu Dōan all started - with Kiel forward Shūto Machino coming off the bench - as the Samurai Blue scored two late goals to continue their unbeaten qualifying run and take an unassailable nine-point lead atop the standings.
For France's two-leg quarter final against Croatia, you can still keep an eye out for multiple Bundesliga stars. Bayern regulars Dayot Upamecano and Michael Olise both received the call from coach Didier Deschamps, whilst for Croatia, expect to see Josip Juranovic (Union), Josip Stanišić (Bayern), Kristijan Jakić (Augsburg), and Hoffenheim captain Andrej Kramarić in action.
There are plenty of familiar faces in another of the Nations League quarter finals. A Wolfsburg quartet of Jonas Wind, Joakim Mæhle, Mads Roerslev, and Andreas Skov Olsen are set to face off against Bayern's very own João Palhinha.
There is a wealth of Bundesliga talent available for the Austrian national team, with coach Ralf Rangnick having selected 14 Bundesliga stars, including Konrad Laimer, Christoph Baumgartner, Nicolas Seiwald, Romano Schmid, Patrick Wimmer, and Philipp Lienhart (pictured). Captain Marcel Sabitzer is set to miss out, however, having sustained a knee injury in Dortmund's 2-0 defeat in Leipzig which will see him sidelined for several weeks.
Elsewhere, there's a heavyweight UEFA Nations League quarter-final double-header between the Netherlands and Spain. Xavi is expected to start for the Dutch, whilst Leverkusen allegiances will be split, as Jeremie Frimpong joins his Leipzig compatriot to face teammate Alejandro Grimaldo on the Spanish flank.
A two leg UEFA Nations League play-off between Türkiye and Hungary will see Eintracht Frankfurt's Can Uzun, Stuttgart's Atakan Karazor, and Borussia Dortmund's Salih Özcan face off against the RB Leipzig duo of Willi Orbán and Péter Gulácsi, and Union Berlin's András Schäfer in what is sure to be two fiercely contested duels.
International break
The Bundesliga takes a pause for a week as players head off around the world to join up with their national teams competing in FIFA World Cup qualifiers, UEFA and CONCACAF Nations League knockouts and also friendlies. Keep up with how Bundesliga-based players get on this March here.
Club-by-club list of Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 players on international duty in March.
Leon Goretzka, Joshua Kimmich, Jamal Musiala, Leroy Sané (all Germany), Harry Kane (England), Michael Olise, Dayot Upamecano (both France), Daniel Peretz (Israel), Hiroki Ito (Japan), Alphonso Davies (Canada), Josip Stanišić (Croatia), Konrad Laimer (Austria), João Palhinha (Portugal)
Nadiem Amiri, Jonathan Burkardt (both Germany), Andreas Hanche-Olsen (Norway), Philipp Mwene (Austria), Jae-sung Lee (Korea Republic), Paul Nebel (Germany U21s), Nelson Weiper (Germany U21s)
Jérôme Roussillon (Guadeloupe), Josip Juranović (Croatia), Leopold Querfeld (Austria), László Bénes (Slovakia), András Schäfer (Hungary), Tom Rothe (Germany U20s)
Oliver Baumann (Germany), Lúkas Petersson (Iceland), Andrej Kramarić (Croatia), Leo Østigård (Norway), Alexander Prass (Austria), David Jurásek (Czechia), Florian Micheler (Austria U21s), Max Moerstedt (Germany U19s)
Kore Republic are without the injured Minjae Kim (l.), but Australia can count on Jackson Irvine (r.) in FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifying. - IMAGO/Sebastian Frej
