Germany news: Hopes high ahead of first World Cup match

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A contentious photo has emerged of a far-right politician and a lawmaker from the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) at an event in Germany's eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.

The photo appears to show the pair sharing a microphone, seemingly in contravention of a policy by mainstream parties to refuse to work with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which is leading national and state polls.

The image, which was taken during a business event on Thursday in Halberstadt, shows CDU lawmaker Guido Heuer leaning on the shoulder of AfD candidate while both men smile.

Heuer, who was first elected to the state parliament in 2016, downplayed the controversy at another event in Dessau-Rosslau on Saturday, saying the pair had only shared a microphone due to an equipment shortage.

"That [photo] was more of a confrontation, not fraternization," he told DPA news agency.

The voters of Saxony-Anhalt are due to pick their next state government on September 6, with the AfD currently polling 15 percentage points ahead of the CDU at around 40%.

The photo has reignited speculation over whether the two parties might cooperate after the election, despite the informal, political so-called firewall around the AfD.

The European Space Agency (ESA) says a German astronaut will be selected for one of two upcoming NASA lunar missions.

The ESA said the astronaut would either blast off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as part of the Artemis 4 or Artemis 5 mission, adding that a final decision has not yet been made.

The space agency said the contest between the two German finalists, Matthias Maurer and Alexander Gerst, had also not yet been decided.

Both astronauts are veterans in space, with Gerst flying to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2014 and 2018, and Maurer in 2021.

The ESA made the comments to DPA news agency after NASA this week confirmed that Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano will join the Artemis 3 mission, scheduled for 2027.

Artemis 3 will remain in Earth's orbit, performing docking manoeuvres with lunar landers.

Germany's center-left Social Democrats (SPD) party has picked its candidates for two upcoming state elections.

In northern Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the party held a meeting in Wismar to nominate incumbent State Premier Manuela Schwesig. Schwesig currently leads a coalition of the SPD and the left-wing Linke.

In the 2021 state election, the SPD received 39.6% of the vote. Ahead of the September 20 election, however, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is well ahead in the polls.

An Infratest dimap survey for public broadcaster NDR, published in May, put the AfD on 36%, versus 27% for the SPD and 13% for Linke.

Meanwhile, in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), in western Germany, Jochen Ott was picked as the SPD's lead candidate for state premier.

At a meeting in Düsseldorf, party members gave Ott, a former teacher from Cologne, 96.2% support.

NRW holds its state election on April 25, 2027.

The director of Germany's national football team, Rudi Völler, says it is ready to seek its fifth World Cup win as it prepares to take to the pitch for its first match.

"The team is raring to go," he said at the opening of the German House of Soccer in New York, adding: "We'll present a really good game, I'm sure of it." 

All of Germany's four previous World Cup victories have kicked off with a win in the first game of the tournament.

In this case, that will be on Sunday against the team from Curacao, which is taking part in a World Cup for the first time and will certainly have many well-wishers.

Ahead of the match in Houston, Texas, Chancellor Friedrich Merz sent the team his best wishes in a video call, saying "All of Germany is crossing its fingers! Everyone here is sharing the thrill!"

The match will, among other things, see the unexpected return of veteran goalkeeper and former Germany captain Manuel Neuer after 709 days of retirement from the national team. 

The number of offenses committed against homeless people rose by almost 17% in 2025 compared with the year before, the German Interior Ministry has said.

According to the daily Rheinische Post, which cited the ministry's response to a parliamentary inquiry, there were 2,563 crimes committed against homeless people as against some 2,200 in the two previous years.

Homeless men were the main targets, featuring in 2,000 cases, while women were victims in some 500 crimes.

The inquiry came from the Left Party, with its parliamentarian Sahra Mirow telling the Rheinische Post that Germany was currently seeing an "unprecedented escalation of violence toward people without a home."

Mirow called the statistic provided by the Interior Ministry "the tip of the iceberg."   

German defense contractor Rheinmetall has warned that a German tank project is facing possible headwinds amid French plans to cut funding.

"There is always a risk, but nothing has been decided yet," chief executive Armin Papperger told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper in comments released on  Saturday.

The newspaper cited him as saying that France was planning to dramatically reduce funding for the joint Main Ground Combat System (MGCS) tank project.

"If you have less money available, you don’t get any faster, and we are already very slow," Pappberger was quoted as saying.

The MGCS project would replace the German Leopard 2 and French Leclerc main battle tanks with a cross-platform ground combat system by 2040, earlier statements have said.

Pappberger said the long timeframe made him anyway doubt "whether there will even be an MGCS," according to the paper.

His comments come after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron this week announced the end of a planned joint fighter jet project, citing disagreements between the companies Dassault and Airbus during the negotiations.

Germany is set for its first World Cup match on Sunday against Curacao, thus pitting a four-time champion against a team playing in the tournament for the first time.

With Germany in need of some optimism amid a host of gloomy challenges, could a success by the national team bring some relief — and even boost the popularity of its beleaguered government?

This DW video explores the connections between politics and sports: 

Einen schönen guten Tag from the DW newsroom on the bank of the Rhine in Bonn.

You join our coverage as excitement mounts ahead of Germany's first appearance at this year's World Cup, despite the fraught run-up to the tournament.

We will also be looking at figures from the government showing an uptick in crime against homeless people.

And French-German defense cooperation seems under threat in the face of financial and administrative challenges.

You can read about these and other stories in this blog from June 13, 2026.