Carney Chukwuemeka receives first Austria call up after switching allegiance from England

Carney Chukwuemeka has acquired his first call-up to the Austrian worldwide squad after switching allegiance from England.

Borussia Dortmund’s Chukwuemeka, previously an England youth worldwide who performed for Chelsea and Aston Villa within the Premier League, was born in Austria and had his change of registration authorised by FIFA final week.

Ralf Rangnick has named the 22-year-old midfielder within the squad for the upcoming buddies in opposition to Ghana on March 27 and South Korea three days later. Rangnick’s Austria have already certified for the World Cup, the place they’ll face Jordan, Algeria and Argentina in Group J.

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For Rangnick, that is the fruits of a two-year pursuit. Chukwuemeka was first approached about taking part in for Austria in 2024, earlier than that 12 months’s European Championship. Rangnick had seen influential midfielder Xaver Schlager endure a severe harm taking part in for RB Leipzig, and was enthusiastic about each a alternative for the event and a participant who may very well be impactful otherwise.

Ultimately, Chukwuemeka was not prepared; In addition to being certified for England, he was eligible to play for Nigeria by means of his dad and mom, too, and was not able to commit his worldwide future.

That modified in late 2025, when Chukwuemeka and Rangnick spoke once more, with the participant then having modified his thoughts.

The change arrives at an attention-grabbing second in his profession. Chukwuemeka moved to Dortmund from Chelsea in January 2025. He initially joined on mortgage, earlier than signing completely in the summertime. He has been impactful and influential, however solely sparingly, and has struggled for health and continuity. He has solely began seven video games for Dortmund throughout all competitions this season, taking part in fewer than 1000 minutes mixed.

But Rangnick is assured that he is a match for his direct, bodily fashion of soccer, and sees Chukwuemeka as a uncommon and offensively harmful participant, who can probably change into an actual asset to an Austrian facet that doesn’t presently possess somebody of an identical profile.

Chukwuemeka isn’t the one new addition to Rangnick’s squad.

Paul Wanner, 20, a former Bayern Munich midfielder who joined PSV Eindhoven final summer season, has acquired his first call up, too, having additionally solely simply declared for Austria.

For a very long time, Wanner was a fantastic hope at Bayern, whose academy he joined as a 13-year-old. He was briefly seen as having the expertise to probably change into a starter at Allianz Arena, with capacity on the size of somebody like Florian Wirtz or Jamal Musiala. He was extraordinarily effectively considered by the German Football Association (DFB), too, and regardless of being born in Austria, he represented Germany in any respect age teams, from U17 upwards.

The query of his worldwide future has been a subject for a lot of months, with Wanner wrestling with the choice for a number of years. For Rangnick, this has been a good longer pursuit; The first dialog between him and Wanner occurred in October 2022, a couple of months after the previous Manchester United interim head coach was appointed.

And in March 2025, Wanner introduced that he was able to decide to Austria, telling Sky Sports: “This decision was probably the hardest of my career. Because of my parents, my upbringing, and the various stages of my career, I have two hearts beating in my chest.

“I’m extremely honored that two federations tried to persuade me to play for his or her nationwide groups. I’ve been in fixed communication with the Austrian Football Association (ÖFB), and I’ve had a really open and trustworthy trade with Ralf Rangnick and his teaching workers for a very long time. We’ve intensified this even additional in current weeks.”

He can be now in place to make his debut in opposition to Ghana in Vienna.

There are not any ensures that both participant will make the World Cup squad. Austria are well-stocked in midfield, with Christoph Baumgartner, Marcel Sabitzer, Romano Schmid and the fit-again Schlager all, amongst others, competing for beginning positions, however each could have a chance to be chosen for what will probably be their new nation’s first World Cup look since 1998.