Rothosen in international action: EURO 2024 play-offs and a clash between team-mates

After the home win against SV Wehen Wiesbaden, HSV’s league campaign will briefly be put on the back burner as the first international break of the year approaches. Hamburg fans can look forward to seeing several players turn out for their national teams during the break. For Dennis Hazikadunic and Anssi Suhonen in particular, this international break is an important one. Here is an overview of all of the Rothosen away with their countries for the March internationals.

• Bosnia and Dennis Hadzikadunic take on Ukraine in the European Championship play-offs on Thursday (21st March, 20:45 CET), with the victor in that game taking on the winner of the other Path B semi-final between Israel and Iceland on Tuesday (26th March, 20:45 CET) for a place at the finals.
• Anssi Suhonen, meanwhile, will be competing in Path A of the play-offs with Finland. At the same time as Bosnia’s game with Ukraine, the Finns will face Wales in their semi-final, with a final against either Poland or Estonia in prospect for the winner. If they qualify, Suhonen and co. will begin their EURO 2024 campaign at the Volksparkstadion against the Netherlands. 
• Laszlo Benes, who has already qualified for the EUROs with Slovakia, has a friendly against Austria in Bratislava to look forward to on Saturday (23rd March, 18:00 CET), before a visit to Oslo for a meeting with Erling Haaland’s Norway.
• Andras Nemeth and the Hungary U21s will head east on Tuesday for an U21 European Championship qualifier in Kazakhstan (26th March, 14:00 CET). Before that, the Magyars will host Moldova in a friendly on Thursday (21st March, 18:00 CET).
• Two young HSV full-backs could find themselves on opposing teams, with Nicolas Oliveira and William Mikelbrencis selected for the German and French U20 teams respectively. The sides will play two friendlies against each other on Friday (22nd March, 15:00 CET) and Monday (25th March, also 15:00 CET).
• Ransford Königsdorffer, who took part in the Africa Cup of Nations with Ghana, has been left out of the Black Stars’ squad for their friendlies with Nigeria and Uganda, but remains on standby.
• Youngsters Hannes Hermann and Lukas Bornschein are also on standby for the Germany U19 team.
• HSV II’s Steven Mensah has been named in the Togo squad for their games against Niger and Libya, while HSV U19 players Otto Stange and Karim Coulibaly will travel with the Germany U17s for three European Championship qualifiers in Portugal.