Monday night, the German Men’s National Soccer Team held an open training session in Winston-Salem — the team’s summer home — ahead of the FIFA World Cup.
The mood was festive as hundreds of soccer fans filtered into Spry Stadium on the Wake Forest campus. There were goodwill speeches by the university’s soccer coaches and the president of the German Football Federation, who thanked the community for its hospitality.
The players took the field to warm applause for their practice session.
Wake Forest alumnus Daniel Sellner says he was blown away. "This is incredible," says Sellner. "I think to be able to come back here, you know, I went to Wake soccer camps as a kid, and now to come back here and see the German national team just days before the World Cup, I think, is a pretty amazing experience."
Leann Hacket and her husband arrived with their two young soccer-playing sons dressed in jerseys. "Yeah, we're just really happy to be here," said Hacket. "It's a very rare, exciting event, so we're excited to be invited."
Lars Helmle was born in Germany. "I think it's huge that a team like Germany's here, you know, international attention, so I think it's great to see," he said.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup runs from June 11 to July 19 across North America. Germany’s first match will be on Sunday in Houston against Curaçao.