Felix Keidel: Jürgen Klopp's Bold Selection for Germany

When Jürgen Klopp walked into his first press conference as Germany head coach, he didn’t just talk about a fresh start – he drew a line through the old order. Hierarchies, reputations, past tournaments: all up for review. Only a small core of players could feel remotely safe. Everyone else would have to run, tackle and play their way into his plans.

He mentioned a 57-man shortlist. He refused to name names. But the message was unmistakable: if you were German, in form and relentless off the ball, you had a chance – whether or not you had ever worn the eagle on your chest.

Now one of those unlikely names is out in the open. Felix Keidel.

On Tuesday night, Bild reported that the 23-year-old SV Elversberg player had received an invitation from the new Bundestrainer. A day later, kicker backed it up with its own information. No denial, no rowing back. A player with three Bundesliga appearances, almost no top-level pedigree, suddenly in the frame for the national team.

In a country still smarting from three failed World Cups, that is exactly the sort of jolt Klopp promised.

From Ingolstadt’s academy to the Bundesliga fast lane

Keidel’s story is not the polished academy-to-superclub tale that usually feeds the national team. It begins quietly in 2012 in the U19s at FC Ingolstadt. He climbed every rung of the youth ladder there, year after year, until the club finally pulled him into the professional squad in the summer of 2022.

Once he got there, he didn’t hang around on the fringes.

At 20, he established himself as a regular in the 3. Liga side, racking up 37 appearances in his first season, chipping in with one goal and four assists. Those are not headline-grabbing numbers, but they tell a story of trust: coaches picking him, week after week, in a demanding, unforgiving league.

Then came the key leap.

In 2025, Elversberg – still stinging from narrowly missing out on promotion against 1. FC Heidenheim – decided Keidel was worth a calculated gamble. They paid a modest €400,000 to buy him out of his Ingolstadt contract. It looked like a smart, low-risk move by a club in transition. It quickly turned into something more.

Keidel barely needed a settling-in period. Under Vincent Wagner, he once again forced his way into the core of the team, making 25 appearances, 13 from the start. He didn’t just fill a shirt. He helped drive a remarkable campaign that ended with Elversberg celebrating a sensational promotion to the Bundesliga.

From the third tier to the top flight in just over two years. No fanfare, no hype machine. Just steady, upward movement.

The reward? Three Bundesliga games so far – against Leverkusen, Gladbach and Bayern – and one goal to show for them. Add a DFB Cup outing against MSV Duisburg, where he produced two assists, and you have the bare statistical skeleton of his breakthrough.

For Klopp, that was enough to look beyond the numbers and see a profile he likes.

A Swiss army knife with a right-back’s instincts

What makes Keidel interesting for Germany is not a highlight reel of spectacular moments. It’s what he can do all over the pitch.

At Ingolstadt, there were barely any outfield roles he didn’t touch. His biggest advocate there, coach Sabrina Wittmann, pushed him around the tactical board like a Swiss army knife. Both full-back positions? He played them. Central midfield? He did that too. Need a playmaker between the lines, a half-space runner drifting wide? Keidel could slot in.

His natural home, though, has always been on the right of a back four.

The move to Elversberg nudged him slightly deeper again. During the promotion season, he mainly operated at right-back, a more conservative but crucial role in a team punching above its weight. This season, Wagner has started to use him more often in defensive midfield alongside Lukasz Poreba, trusting his reading of the game and his engine in the centre of the pitch.

For a club coach, that sort of versatility is a gift. For a national team coach trying to rebuild, it is gold.

Klopp can look at Keidel and see cover in several positions. But one area stands out above all.

Germany’s right-back riddle

Since Philipp Lahm retired and Joshua Kimmich moved permanently into midfield, Germany have been searching for a right-back they can trust for the long haul. The position has become a revolving door.

Hansi Flick tried different profiles. Julian Nagelsmann did the same. Benjamin Henrichs and Ridle Baku at Leipzig, Josha Vagnoman at Stuttgart, even Kimmich himself shunted back there again during the 2026 World Cup – every option had its moment. Every option, in the end, slipped away.

Nothing stuck. No one convinced enough to be written in ink on the team sheet.

German football has been left with a glaring, almost embarrassing question: how can a country of this size, with this talent pool, not find a long-term solution at right-back in a back four?

This is the crack Keidel is stepping into.

Klopp is unlikely to see him as an instant saviour or a guaranteed starter. The jump from three Bundesliga games to international football is huge. The pace is faster, the mistakes more costly, the scrutiny relentless.

But Klopp does value work rate, tactical intelligence and flexibility. Keidel offers all three. He can defend the flank, step into midfield zones, and adjust to different pressing schemes. He is used to adapting, used to being the player asked to solve problems rather than create them.

So here he is: 23 years old, three Bundesliga matches behind him, called into the orbit of a national team desperate for renewal.

Perhaps Felix Keidel is just another experiment in a position that has tormented Germany for a decade. Or perhaps, of all people, the unheralded full-back from Elversberg will finally close the chapter that began when Lahm walked away.