Berlin, Germany, November 20, 2019 - Returnees included captain Lukas Kampa, Georg Grozer and libero Markus Steuerwald as Germany coach Andrea Giani announced his provisional squad for the CEV Tokyo Volleyball European Olympic Qualification tournament in Berlin on Tuesday. The Germans will be joined by Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Serbia in an eight-team competition to be held in the German capital from January 5 to 10.
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Germany's men's team will gather on December 26 in Kienbaum to prepare for the qualifier with friendlies against Australia scheduled on January 1 and 2 following which Giani will select 14 players to begin the Olympic qualification tournament against the Czech Republic on January 5.
Arguably the biggest surprise in the coach's list is Steuerwald, who played his last international match in May 2017 and was a bronze medallist at the 2014 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship in Poland.
"Andrea Giani asked me if I could imagine a return for the Olympic qualifier in January," said the libero. "I first talked to my family, who are fully behind it. So it was not a question for me if I wanted to do it. I am very happy that I can become part of the team again."
The winners of the five men's continental qualification tournaments in January will join the teams already qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, including Brazil, USA, Italy, Poland, Russia, Argentina and hosts Japan.
Players called up:
Noah Baxpöhler, Marcus Böhme, Anton Brehme, Christian Fromm, Georg Grozer, Simon Hirsch, Lukas Kampa, Denis Kaliberda, Moritz Karlitzek, Tomáš Kocian-Falkenbach, Tobias Krick, Lukas Maase, Moritz Reichert, Ruben Schott, David Sossenheimer, Markus Steuerwald, Tim Stöhr, Linus Weber, Julian Zenger, Jan Zimmermann.
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