Felix Keidel: Klopp's Bold Choice for Germany's Right-Back
Jürgen Klopp walked into his first Germany press conference with a simple message: reset. No sacred cows, no automatic picks, no reputations picked on memory. Only performance, form and work rate.
He even put a number on it. Fifty-seven players on his initial shortlist, and barely anyone outside the room knew who they were. What was clear, though, was his intention: after three failed World Cups on the spin, Germany would not just shuffle the deck. It would change the pack.
Now one of the most unlikely names in that pack is about to step into the spotlight.
From 3. Liga to the national team
Late on Tuesday, Bild dropped the first hint: Felix Keidel, 23 years old, SV Elversberg, had received an invitation from the new Bundestrainer. On Wednesday, kicker backed it up with its own information. No trial balloon. No misprint. Keidel really is in the frame for Germany.
On paper, the call looks astonishing. Three Bundesliga appearances. One goal. A single DFB Cup outing, albeit with two assists. Almost no experience at the very top. Yet he now finds himself on the verge of a place in a Germany squad rebuilt under Klopp.
Keidel’s story starts far from the glamour of the national team stage. At FC Ingolstadt, he joined the U19s in 2012 and climbed patiently through every youth age group. No shortcuts, no loan carousel. In the summer of 2022 he finally reached the professional squad.
Once there, he didn’t lurk on the fringes for long. In his first season, still only 20, he nailed down a regular spot in the 3. Liga side. Thirty-seven league appearances, one goal, four assists. Solid numbers, but more importantly, a body of work that marked him as reliable, adaptable and ready for more.
The next step came in 2025. Elversberg, still stung by narrowly missing out on promotion against 1. FC Heidenheim, went back into the market and pulled Keidel out of Ingolstadt for around €400,000. A modest fee in modern football, but a clear signal they saw more in him than a squad role.
Again, he wasted no time. Under Vincent Wagner he became a fixture, playing 25 league games, starting 13, and helping drive an improbable promotion push. By the end of the season, SVE were celebrating a sensational rise to the Bundesliga. Keidel had gone from the third tier to the top division in just over two years.
Then came the real leap. Three Bundesliga matches — against Leverkusen, Gladbach and Bayern — yielded one goal. Add that to his DFB Cup performance versus MSV Duisburg, where he set up two, and you have the slim but striking dossier that landed on Klopp’s desk.
Slim, but apparently convincing enough.
The Swiss army knife Klopp has been missing?
The question now hangs over the DFB setup: is Keidel already good enough to play a meaningful role for Germany? That will only be answered on the pitch. What is less in doubt is why Klopp’s eye was drawn to him.
Versatility.
At Ingolstadt, Keidel became the answer to almost any tactical problem. His biggest supporter there, coach Sabrina Wittmann, used him across the pitch. Right-back and left-back. Central midfield. Even as an attacking midfielder, operating in the half-spaces and drifting wide to stitch moves together. Wherever there was a gap, Keidel filled it.
His natural position remains right-back in a back four, but his education has been far broader than that label suggests.
The move to Elversberg nudged him a little deeper. During the promotion campaign he mostly lined up on the right side of defence, but Wagner has recently pushed him inside. Now he often operates as a defensive midfielder alongside Lukasz Poreba, tasked with breaking up play and launching transitions.
For a national coach trying to reshape a squad, that kind of tactical flexibility is gold. One player, several roles, multiple systems.
Yet for all the options he offers, one position stands out.
A long-standing problem on the right
Germany’s right-back slot has been a running sore since Philipp Lahm retired and Joshua Kimmich shifted permanently into midfield. Every coach since has wrestled with it. None has solved it.
Hansi Flick and Julian Nagelsmann both cycled through alternatives. Benjamin Henrichs and Ridle Baku at RB Leipzig. Josha Vagnoman at Stuttgart. Even Kimmich himself, dragged back to the flank at the 2026 World Cup in a bid to plug the gap. Each idea flickered briefly, then faded.
The search continues for a right-back who can lock down the position in a back four, not just for a tournament but for years.
This is where Keidel comes in. Klopp is expected to view him first and foremost as a candidate for that role. A modern full-back who can defend, tuck into midfield, or push high when the game demands it. Someone comfortable both on the touchline and in the half-spaces, shaped by years of being moved around rather than anchored to one strip of grass.
It is a gamble. It always is when a player with so little top-flight experience is catapulted into the national team picture. Yet this is exactly the kind of bold selection Klopp promised when he talked about starting again.
German football has been waiting for a right-back to claim that shirt and keep it. Perhaps, of all people, it will be Felix Keidel who grabs it and refuses to let go.
