Joshua Kimmich is set to make his 100th appearance for Germany in the Nations League semi-final against Portugal on Wednesday. He looks back on "lows and highs" - and is an unfinished man in the hundred club.
04.06.2025, 04:30
04.06.2025, 08:06
SDA
Joshua Kimmich sees his 100th international match as a "great honor". And as official proof "that I've been playing at a good level for the last nine years. I was always there. And I've experienced many lows and highs with the DFB team". The lows probably outweigh the lows.
Of course, his great desire as an international player will not be fulfilled when he joins the illustrious club of 100 players, led by Lothar Matthäus (150 appearances) as the DFB record player. Kimmich is still missing something crucial: a major title with the national team.
Nations League as a chance for "a small title"
But this week, with the Nations League final tournament and Wednesday's anniversary match against Portugal at his home stadium in Munich, is also a promising one for Kimmich when it comes to the title. "We at least have the chance to win a small title," says the 30-year-old, who has been a DFB fixture for almost a decade.
At the end of his debut season as captain, Kimmich could once again be presented with the winner's trophy in the Allianz Arena on Sunday after international match number 101 and a final against Spain or France. And that a year before the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico, which he has long since set his sights on. "The preparation doesn't start two weeks beforehand. It has already started."
Kimmich was only on the right track with the national team in the early days after the unsuccessful debut in Augsburg in May 2016 against Slovakia (1:3), the subsequent European Championship in France with the unfortunate semi-final exit and winning the Confederations Cup a year later in Russia.
The face of a generation of losers
In the downward spiral that followed, he virtually became the face of a generation of losers with the botched tournaments from the 2018 World Cup to the 2021 European Championship and another preliminary round exit at the 2022 World Cup. "The World Cups in particular weren't successful," mused Kimmich on Monday, as he spoke maturely and not at all bitterly about his time at the DFB in Herzogenaurach.
Incidentally, when asked to name the international match he thinks of first, he mentioned the dramatic quarter-final defeat to Spain at the home European Championships a year ago. "That is still very present." Will there be revenge on Sunday?
Sometimes dogged, sometimes a role model
A leader like Kimmich has to live with the fact that he is more critically scrutinized than a follower who hides in the background. Kimmich's great ambition is seen as doggedness when things aren't going well. When he is successful, the Bayern professional is a role model for everyone. Whether he is better as a six-man in midfield or as a right-back has been hotly debated and argued over for years.
Now, following his appointment as captain by Julian Nagelsmann, Kimmich is the universally recognized leader of a DFB transformation. A transformation into a new winning team that the fans are cheering for again. "We felt it at the European Championships that, even without winning the title, we were able to re-establish a connection between team and country," says Kimmich proudly. The national team is rekindling "positive feelings".
He is held in the highest esteem within the DFB's inner circle. Marc-André ter Stegen calls his long-time team-mate "phenomenal". The promotion to captain was logical for the goalkeeper. "Jo has always been a leader. He has always moved up the hierarchy. It was the natural path. He's given so much for football in Germany."
An incomplete athlete
Nevertheless, Kimmich is an unfinished man in sporting terms. He is now the 14th DFB player to reach the 100-game mark - but he is (for now?) the only one in this group without a World Cup title. Sports director Rudi Völler is reassuring: "Joshua is still young enough to win major titles. Lothar (Matthäus) and I didn't win our big title until we were 30 at the 1990 World Cup. So he still has time." 2026 at the age of 31? Or 2030 at 35? Maybe 2034 at 39? "There are still a few chances," Kimmich replies with a smile.
After all, opponents Portugal will be led by the now 40-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo, who is about to play his 220th international match in Munich. "That's still a long way off, a blatant number," remarks Kimmich. Incidentally, Ronaldo has not yet become world champion either.
