Malick Thiaw: It’s a dream come true

For the first time in his young career, Malick Thiaw will represent Germany in the upcoming group stages of the European U21 Championship, which will be held in Hungary and Slovenia from 24th to 31st March. “It's a dream come true for me that I get to play for my country,” says the 19-year-old, who was born in Düsseldorf to a Senegalese father and a Finnish mother and only received his German passport a few weeks ago.

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23.03.21, 17:10

Malick Thiaw

He has been in close contact with the DFB in recent weeks reports Thiaw. “A day ahead of the official call-up, the coach Stefan Kuntz called me up to let me know I was in,” says the central defender, who is currently completing his first season with FC Schalke 04 as a professional footballer. Last season saw Thiaw captain the Royal Blues’ U19s. “Malick has absolutely earned this call-up,” praised Peter Knäbel following the official announcement of the Germany U21s squad. “Despite the sporting circumstances being anything but easy, he has managed to make the big step from the youth teams into the first team well over the past few months.”

The aim of Stefan Kuntz’s team is to reach the final round of the competition, which will be played between 31 May and 6 June. The tournament has been split into two due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Markus Schubert also in the squad

If the German youngsters manage to win the title, Thiaw and Markus Schubert, who is currently on loan at Eintracht Frankfurt, would be the fifth and sixth Schalke players to be crowned European U21 champions. In 2009, Manuel Neuer and Benedikt Höwedes, who were playing for S04 at the time, won the competition with a 4-0 victory over England in the final. Eight years later, former Royal Blues Thilo Kehrer and Max Meyer triumphed in the final against Spain with a 1-0 win.

The first match for Germany’s youngsters will be on Wednesday 24th March in Székesfehérvar, Hungary, with kick-off against the co-hosts in Group A at 21:00 CET. This will be followed by matches against the Netherlands on 27th March (21:00 CET), and Romania on 30th March (18:00 CET). The first and second-placed teams in each of the four groups will qualify for the final, knock-out round.

Overview of the group stages of the European U21 Championship:

Hungary – Germany, 24/03/21, 21:00 CET, Székesfehérvar
Germany – Netherlands, 27/03/21, 21:00 CET, Székesfehérvar
Germany – Romania, 30/03/21, 18:00 CET, Budapest

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