Kruse, Amiri and Arnold in Germany's Olympic squad

Bundesliga regulars Max Kruse (33, Union Berlin), Nadiem Amiri (24, Bayer Leverkusen) and Maximilian Arnold (27, VfL Wolfsburg) will lead the line for Germany in the men's football tournament at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, later this month.

For striker Kruse, who scored 11 Bundesliga goals last season, it will be the first time he has represented Germany at any level since 2015 before he was kicked out of Joachim Löw's squad in the buildup to Euro 2016 for disciplinary reasons. Amiri and Arnold were in the Germany team which won the 2017 under-21 European Championship.

The three permitted over-aged players in the otherwise under-23 squad were selected by head coach Stefan Kuntz along with five members of the Germany team that recently won the 2021 under-21 European Championship.

They are: Ismail Jakobs (Cologne), Arne Maier (Hertha Berlin), Amos Pieper (Arminia Bielefeld), David Raum (Hoffenheim) and Anton Stach (Greuther Fürth).

Niklas Dorsch (KAA Gent) and Josha Vagnoman (Hamburg) were also included but have since withdrawn, the former due to a move to Bundesliga side Augsburg and the latter due to injury.

They were replaced by Ragnar Ache (Eintracht Frankfurt) and Keven Schlotterbeck (Freiburg).

Benjamin Henrichs (RB Leipzig), Jordan Torunarigha (Hertha Berlin), Eduard Löwen (VfL Bochum), Cedric Teuchert (Union Berlin), Felix Uduokhai and Marco Richter (both Augsburg) complete the outfield lineup, plus goalkeepers Florian Müller (VfB Stuttgart) and Luca Plogmann (Werder Bremen).

A surprise inclusion as third-choice goalkeeper is Svend Brodersen, nominally of Bundesliga 2 side FC St. Pauli but listed by the German Football Association (DFB) as playing for Japanese outfit Yokohama FC.

The DFB announced the final squad on Monday morning with a Japanese-style anime video, in homage to the popular cartoon style in the "land of the rising sun."

"With the announcement of the squad, the excitement ahead of the Olympics, which was already huge, is now immeasurable," said Kuntz, who was reportedly among the candidates to replace Joachim Löw as Germany's senior head coach before the job eventually went to Hansi Flick.

"For the 19 lads and the whole backroom team, being part of Germany in Tokyo is going to be special experience," Kuntz said.

Criticism toward Bundesliga clubs

Given that the football tournaments at the Olympics take place outside the jurisdiction of world football's governing body, FIFA, clubs are not contractually obliged to release their players to participate in the games.

And Kuntz was critical of some Bundesliga clubs' unwillingness to help, especially with Augsburg later withdrawing new signing Dorsch.

"The willingness in the Bundesliga to support the Olympic team was varied," he said. "Some big clubs didn't want to help as much as we had hoped."

Kuntz's squad will come together in Frankfurt on July 12 before flying out to Japan the following day, where they will settle into their camp in Wakayama in the southern-central Kansai region.

A friendly against Honduras is planned for July 17 before Group D fixtures against Brazil (July 22), Saudi Arabia (July 25) and Ivory Coast (July 28).

Germany's women's team, which won gold at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, failed to qualify, losing out to Sweden.