Carney Chukwuemeka has acquired his first call-up to the Austrian worldwide squad after switching allegiance from England.
Borussia Dortmund’s Chukwuemeka, previously an England youth worldwide who performed for Chelsea and Aston Villa within the Premier League, was born in Austria and had his change of registration authorised by FIFA final week.
Ralf Rangnick has named the 22-year-old midfielder within the squad for the upcoming friendlies in opposition to Ghana on March 27 and South Korea three days later. Rangnick’s Austria have already certified for the World Cup, the place they are going to face Jordan, Algeria and Argentina in Group J.
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For Rangnick, that is the end result of a two-year pursuit. Chukwuemeka was first approached about enjoying for Austria in 2024, earlier than that yr’s European Championship. Rangnick had seen influential midfielder Xaver Schlager endure a critical damage enjoying for RB Leipzig, and was occupied with each a substitute for the event and a participant who could possibly be impactful differently.
Ultimately, Chukwuemeka was not prepared; along with being certified for England, he was eligible to play for Nigeria by way of his dad and mom, too, and was not able to commit his worldwide future.
That modified in late 2025, when Chukwuemeka and Rangnick spoke once more, with the participant by then having modified his thoughts.
The change arrives at an fascinating second in his profession. Chukwuemeka moved to Dortmund from Chelsea in January 2025. Initially he joined on mortgage, earlier than signing completely in the summertime. He has been impactful and influential, however solely sparingly, and has struggled for health and continuity. He has solely began seven video games for Dortmund throughout all competitions this season, enjoying fewer than 1000 minutes mixed.
But Rangnick is assured that he’s a match for his direct, bodily model of soccer, and sees Chukwuemeka as a uncommon and offensively damaging participant, who can probably turn out to be an actual asset to an Austrian aspect that doesn’t at present possess somebody of comparable profile.
Chukwuemeka just isn’t the one new addition to Rangnick’s squad.
Paul Wanner, 20, a former Bayern Munich midfielder who joined PSV Eindhoven final summer time, has acquired his first call up, too, having additionally solely simply declared for Austria.
For a very long time, Wanner was an amazing hope at Bayern, whose academy he joined as a 13-year-old. He was seen briefly as having the expertise to probably turn out to be a starter at Allianz Arena, with capability on the dimensions of somebody like Florian Wirtz or Jamal Musiala. He was extraordinarily effectively considered by the German Football Association (DFB), too, and regardless of being born in Austria, he represented Germany in any respect age teams, from U17 upwards.
The query of his worldwide future has been a subject for a lot of months, with Wanner wrestling with the choice for a number of years. For Rangnick, this has been a fair longer pursuit; the first dialog between him and Wanner occurred in October 2022, just a few months after the previous Manchester United interim head coach was appointed.
And in March 2025, Wanner introduced that he was able to decide to Austria, telling Sky Sports: “This decision was probably the hardest of my career. Because of my parents, my upbringing, and the various stages of my career, I have two hearts beating in my chest.
“I am incredibly honored that two federations tried to convince me to play for their national teams. I’ve been in constant communication with the Austrian Football Association (ÖFB), and I’ve had a very open and honest exchange with Ralf Rangnick and his coaching staff for a long time. We’ve intensified this even further in recent weeks.”
He can be now in place to make his debut in opposition to Ghana in Vienna.
There are not any ensures that both participant will make the World Cup squad. Austria are well-stocked in midfield, with Christoph Baumgartner, Marcel Sabitzer, Romano Schmid and the fit-again Schlager all, amongst others, competing for beginning positions, however each could have a chance to be chosen for what shall be their new nation’s first World Cup look since 1998.
