Germany forward Karl ruled out of World Cup

Karl helped Bayern Munich win the Bundesliga last season

Germany forward Lennart Karl has been ruled out of the 2026 World Cup with a thigh injury.

The highly rated 18-year-old suffered the issue in Germany's final training session before a warm-up game against World Cup co-hosts United States.

Bayern Munich's Karl started in Germany's 4-0 win against Finland in a friendly on Sunday, during which he set up one of the goals, but he will now be replaced by RB Leipzig's Assan Ouedraogo.

"I feel incredibly sorry for Lenny," said Germany manager Julian Nagelsmann.

"It's a huge shock for him and all of us that he's missing the World Cup. It's only a small consolation that he's young and has many tournaments ahead of him. We would have loved to have him on the team.

"With Assan Ouedraogo, we're now getting a player who, like Lenny, had a fantastic start with us. He's also highly talented and we expect him to play with courage and freedom."

The game against the US is Germany's last before they start their World Cup campaign against Curacao on 14 June.

Nagelsmann's side then have further Group E games against Ivory Coast on 20 June and Ecuador on 25 June.

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