Draft:North Rhine-Westphalia national football team

North Rhine-Westphalia

Nickname(s)	Die Symbole (The Icons)
Association	Westphalian Football and Athletics Association
Captain	Ralf Fährmann
Most caps	Manuel Neuer (173)
Top scorer	Fabian Klos (99)
Home stadium	Veltins-Arena (most matches)
FIFA code	NRW
First colours Second colours
Website	flvw.de (in German)

The North Rhine-Westphalia national football team, (German:Westfälische Fußballnationalmannschraft) is the regional team representing the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The team is only presented in FIFA/EA FC and is not affiliated with FIFA or UEFA, so therefore only plays Squad Battles matches.

History

Early years and FUT appearances

NOTE: The North Rhine-Westphalian national team is completely fictional. All history is made-up from other real life national football teams.

The Westphalian national team was the first of 16 German states to have a professional national team, which was not fully presented in any football videogames until FIFA 23. At first, the team consisted of only Westphalian-born Bundesliga players. A plan for the team to be seen as early as FIFA 22 in Ultimate Team due to the creation of the Bundesliga all-stars in the game.

Instead, the presentation of this national team was shifted to FIFA 23 instead, due to the increased rating of the Bundesliga all-stars. Icons and FUT Heroes have played for North Rhine-Westphalia, which involves the likes of Lars Ricken, Rudi Völler, Jürgen Kohler and Matthias Sammer.

Helmut Rahn with Germany, a Westphalian icon

The national team was created in August 1946 and started playing in red and green colours, with the shorts being a 'neutral' colour. In 1947 the team played its first international against Saxony, coming out victorious 3-1. Berti Vogts captained the team in that game, being voted Man of the Match. Between 1928 and 1932, a great period for this national team began, with the squad beating top-class national teams like Spain, Brazil and Norway. The team had follow-up matches in the 1950s against these opponents, coming out victorious again, only for the venue against Brazil to be played at the famed Maracanã Stadium. This rise saw a move to the SchücoArena, home of Arminia Bielefeld.

After four years beating the very best national teams, Westphalia suffered a slow decline. Their first ever defeat came against Baden-Württemberg, losing 4-0 in the process. Soon after, the defeats increased, losing to small German states like Saxony, Brandenburg and Saarland.

1960-2008: Ultra Westfalia, new beginnings and 'German state glory days'

Thomas Helmer played for Westphalia between 1986 and 2000.

After a period of winning began in early 1960, Westphalia got the winning mentality up again, earning key wins in the German State International Cup, making it all the way to the final, only for them to suffer heartbreak, this time to their arch-rivals Baden-Württemberg. The rise of this squad continued into the 1970s, when they built a reputation for developing youth talent, such as Bernard Dietz, Olaf Thon, Thomas Strunz and the now deceased Heinz Flohe. These were players who came from the under-23 team, going on to play for the main team and writing their names in Westphalian folklore.

The 1980s promised the beginning of this 'Ultra Westfalia' era and had a great start to it. Featuring a squad that boasted the likes of Thomas Helmer, Michael Zorc and Daniel Simmes, they achieved their first victory over Bavaria in Dortmund for almost 2 years, with the squad saluting their fans after the game, to end a painful losing streak against Die Bayer.

After the win, the 1990s saw Westphalia win their first ever German State Liga in 1992–93, finishing 14 points ahead of Hesse. Managed by Werner Biskup and a squad featuring the likes of Lars Ricken, Rudi Völler, Jürgen Kohler, Mathias Hönerbach and Maurice Banach, Westphalia looked unstoppable.

Friendly matches against England, Italy, Croatia and Argentina were scheduled, with the team having their best-ever streak of international wins, with 14 wins in a row.

The end of 'Ultra Westfalia' was in 2008, with all of their players from the 1990s retired from the national side. This left Westphalia with a very young squad that had Mesut Özil and Manuel Neuer, an inexperienced manager and a lack of organisation by their association, the team experienced their worst ever year in international football, only winning one game, against Thuringia, which summed up the East Germany national teams’ struggles at the time.

2009-present: 'New Westfalia', downfall and new return

Current captain Ralf Fährmann

With Uwe Koschinat as their new manager, Westphalia built an unwanted reputation for calling up 2. Bundesliga and 3. Liga players over the age of 30. The demise of this team began in 2011, where a streak of defeats saw them temporarily lose status as one of the biggest German states in terms of national football teams.

Clubs like SC Paderborn, MSV Duisburg, Schalke 04. Borussia Dortmund and 1. FC Köln had to give their players to the Westphalian national team in order to save it from humiliation.

The team had multiple captains over the next few years. Calling up players like Ralf Fährmann, Waldemar Anton and Niklas Stark, the possibility of a Westphalian return was very high after a good 2018 in international football, involving wins against Hesse and Bavaria. Their best international player from 2018 to 2020 was Luca Kilian.

Players

Due to the fact that the Westphalian team is only seen in EA football video games like other German states, the players are either selected if they are gold or silver category cards, but also depending on whether the player was born in Westphalia.

Current squad

The following players were called up for the friendly matches against Saxony, Thuringia and Hesse respectively.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Ralf Fährmann (captain)	(1988-09-27) 27 September 1988	89	0	Schalke 04
12	1GK	Manuel Neuer	(1986-03-27) 27 March 1986	173	0	Bayern Munich
23	1GK	Michael Esser	(1987-11-22) 22 November 1987	14	0	VfL Bochum
3	2DF	Andre Hoffmann	(1993-02-28) 28 February 1993	43	5	Fortuna Düsseldorf
15	2DF	Luca Kilian	(1999-09-01) 1 September 1999	8	6	1. FC Köln
4	2DF	Christoph Zimmermann	(1993-01-12) 12 January 1993	75	4	Darmstadt 98
21	2DF	Malcolm Cacutalua	(1994-11-15) 15 November 1994	7	0	1. FC Magdeburg
19	2DF	Noah Katterbach	(2001-04-13) 13 April 2001	12	0	1. FC Köln
17	2DF	Ron Schallenberg	(1998-10-06) 6 October 1998	0	0	Schalke 04
17	2DF	Tim Oermann	(2003-10-06) 6 October 2003	0	0	VfL Bochum
14	3MF	Robin Hack	(1998-08-27) 27 August 1998	35	17	Borussia Mönchengladbach
7	3MF	Felix Klaus	(1992-09-13) 13 September 1992	58	47	Fortuna Düsseldorf
13	3MF	Ilkay Gündoğan	(1990-10-24) 24 October 1990	54	15	Barcelona
11	3MF	Danny Latza	(1989-12-07) 7 December 1989	42	14	Schalke 04
18	3MF	Marcel Sobottka	(1995-04-25) 25 April 1995	4	0	Fortuna Düsseldorf
16	3MF	Sonny Kittel	(1993-01-06) 6 January 1993	38	27	Raków Częstochowa
8	3MF	Tobias Mohr	(1995-08-24) 24 August 1995	17	4	Schalke 04
20	3MF	Shinta Appelkamp	(2000-11-01) 1 November 2000	23	14	Fortuna Düsseldorf
9	4FW	Simon Terodde	(1988-03-02) 2 March 1988	92	68	Schalke 04
10	4FW	Kai Havertz	(1999-06-11) 11 June 1999	122	99	Arsenal
21	4FW	Emmanuel Iyoha	(1997-10-11) 11 October 1997	0	0	Fortuna Düsseldorf

Recent call ups

The following players have also been called up to the squad in the last 12 months and are still available for action.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Marc-André ter Stegen	(1992-04-30) 30 April 1992	173	0	FC Barcelona	v.Bavaria, 8 June 2022