Germany head coach Joachim Löw has announced a 27-member preliminary squad for the upcoming FIFA World Cup Russia 2018. The announcement was made at the German Football Museum (Deutsches Fußballmuseum) today.

Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer has been named in the preliminary squad, despite being out of action since September 2017. Germany’s 2014 FIFA World Cup winning goal scorer Mario Götze has been left after a poor season at Borussia Dortmund.

Löw has also surprised everyone with his decision to call-up SC Freiburg striker Nils Petersen instead of Bayern Munich’s Sandro Wagner. Petersen played a great Bundesliga season and finished runners-up in the Golden Boot competition with 15 goals to his name.

Germany will kick-off their World Cup preparations with a training camp in Eppan, Italy from May 23 to June 7. “Die Mannschaft” will face Austria (June 2 in Klagenfurt) and Saudi Arabia (June 8 in Leverkusen) in their final preparation matches, before they leave for Russia from Frankfurt on June 12.

The final 23-member FIFA World Cup squad will be announced on June 4. Germany are in Group F with Mexico, Sweden and South Korea, and play their first match on June 17.

Germany Preliminary Squad

Goalkeepers
Bernd Leno (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Manuel Neuer (FC Bayern München), Marc-André ter Stegen (FC Barcelona), Kevin Trapp (Paris Saint-Germain)

Defenders
Jérôme Boateng (FC Bayern München), Matthias Ginter (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Jonas Hector (1. FC Köln), Mats Hummels (FC Bayern München), Joshua Kimmich (FC Bayern München), Marvin Plattenhardt (Hertha BSC), Antonio Rüdiger (FC Chelsea), Niklas Süle (FC Bayern München), Jonathan Tah (Bayer 04 Leverkusen)

Midfielders
Julian Brandt (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Julian Draxler (Paris Saint-Germain), Leon Goretzka (FC Schalke 04), Ilkay Gündogan (Manchester City FC), Sami Khedira (Juventus), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid CF), Thomas Müller (FC Bayern München), Mesut Özil (Arsenal FC), Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund), Sebastian Rudy (FC Bayern München), Leroy Sané (Manchester City FC),

Forwards
Mario Gomez (VfB Stuttgart), Timo Werner (RB Leipzig), Nils Petersen (SC Freiburg)

🇩🇪🏆 #zsmmn #squad #wm2018 #diemannschaft #dfb

Ein Beitrag geteilt von Die Mannschaft (@dfb_team) am Mai 15, 2018 um 5:14 PDT