Germany announce squad for Euro 2008

Germany announce squad for Euro 2008

Germany announced their European Championship squad in Hamburg on Friday, and manager Joachim Low named a few surprise inclusions.

Champions League stars Michael Ballack and Bastian Schweinsteiger made the squad. Low also included three players who play in the German second division, including youngster Marko Marin and veteren Oliver Neuville. Valencia goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand fails to make the cut, while Manuel Friedrich also misses out.

Germany's national team manager Oliver Bierhoff says the decisions were taken only after careful thought. "Well, we were happy that now the tournament will start that we are getting the preparation and it was a very tough decision for us when we have 35 players and you can choose only 23, or we have chosen now 26, but on the 28th May we have to choose 23 players. We watched 200 games, analysed every player in detail and we believe that we have chosen the best players for this tournament, we hope we are right and for us it was very important that we spoke in person with the players who were not nominated," said Oliver Bierhoff.