New German coach Kais al Saadi has named a large 42-player squad to come together for central training in Mannheim as he looks to assess his options ahead of a busy year of Pro League and Olympic commitments.

It features a wealth of players who will potentially line out in the Euro Hockey League next Easter.

From Rot-Weiss Koln, Victor Aly, Jonas Gomoll, Christopher Ruhr, Mats Grambusch, Johannes Grosse, Timur Oruz, Tom Grambusch and Thies Ole Prinz are all involved.

Uhlenhorst Mulheim’s Lukas Windfeder, Niklas Bosserhoff Benedikt Furk, Malte Hellwig, Timm Herzbruch and Jan Schiffer form part of the camp along with Mannheimer HC’s Teo Hinrichs, Linus Muller, Justus Wiegand, Raphael Hartkopf, Dan Nguyen as does HC Bloemendaal’s Florian Fuchs.

“All in all, I was impressed by the dedication and emphasis that the participants in the course have made to their claims,” al Saadi – an EHL winner with UHC Hamburg – said of the selection.

“ The team dynamics as well as the extremely high willingness to cooperate are extremely positive. Of course, there are players I can trust to play a big role in Tokyo. These are in the prospective squad.

“Among the players who have now dropped out are some experienced internationals, and I know that the situation is tough for them. However, I have chosen others for their positions.

Another panel will be a training course in Valencia, Spain, in January, culminating in their Pro League fixtures against Spain on January 24 and 25.