Women's national coach Jeff MacLeod has announced a 23-man squad for the upcoming Women's World Cup (April 3 to 14, 2024) in Utica (USA). Next Tuesday, March 26, 2024, a large part of the team will meet at the federal base in Füssen for initial preparation. Two days later, the team sets off on its journey to the USA.
Sandra Abstreiter (Ottawa/PWHL), Nina Jobst-Smith (University of Minnesota/Duluth), Luisa and Lilli Welcke (Boston University), Svenja Voigt (St. Cloud State University) and Nina Christof (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) will be joining us on site second preparation phase to the team.
In the squad, women's national coach Jeff MacLeod is relying on a large number of players from the last World Cup, along with a few newcomers. 17 of the 23 players were already in the final World Cup squad at the last World Cup in Brampton (Canada). Lisa Hemmerle, Hannah Loist, Lucia and Tara Schmitz, on the other hand, were nominated for a Women's World Cup for the first time. 16-year-old Hannah Loist, the youngest player in the German squad, was called up to the women's national team for the first time.
Before the start of the World Cup, the DEB-Selection will have a preparatory game against Switzerland on April 1, 2024, before the World Cup preliminary round games in Group B against Denmark, Japan, Sweden and China from April 4 to 9, 2024. The three best-placed nations in Group B reach the quarter-finals, the field is completed by the five nations in Group A.
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DEB-Sports director Christian Künast: “The World Cup is the next challenge for our women’s national team and also an opportunity to compete with the best nations in the world. The change has been initiated, as shown by the fact that more than half of the players in the squad were born between 2000 and 2007. We want to continue to consistently pursue this path of integrating many young players into the squad in the future. The goal at this World Cup is to maintain the top division.”
Women's national coach Jeff MacLeod: “We are looking forward to the upcoming World Cup, for which we have nominated a good mix of experienced and young players. Our team was able to gain significant experience during the season at a high level in the PWHL, at college, in the DFEL and also in national team activities. We are looking forward to the energy that the younger players will bring with them with their new experiences from the season. Our focus in preparing for the World Cup will be on improving day by day. In Füssen we work particularly in the tactical and technical areas. With the full squad in Utica, we would like to continue working on our structure and the goals that we have already worked on during the season. The preparatory game against Switzerland gives us the opportunity to find line-up compositions and develop our special teams so that we can then start the World Cup well-equipped and full of motivation.”
Schedule of the German women's national team:
April 01.04.2024, 18 | 00:0 (German time 00:XNUMX p.m.) | Germany – Switzerland (test match)
04.04.2024/15/00 | 21:00 p.m. (German time XNUMX:XNUMX p.m.) | Denmark - Germany
06.04.2024/15/00 | 21:00 p.m. (German time XNUMX:XNUMX p.m.) | Japan – Germany
April 08.04.2024, 11 | 00:17 (German time 00:XNUMX p.m.) | Germany - Sweden
April 09.04.2024, 11 | 00:17 (German time 00:XNUMX p.m.) | Germany - China