Internationals, 16. July 2018
In the final in Moscow, VfB’s ever-present and the French national team secured the world’s ultimate international title. Within the shortest amount of time, the 22-year-old developed into an absolutely reliable, steadfast figure on the right side of the ‚Équipe Tricolore’ defence and one of the rising young stars at the World Cup in Russia. On November 10th, 2017, the VfB defender made his international debut (2-0 against Wales) – and just eight months later he has become a World Cup winner with France.
In the meantime, the youngster has made just twelve international appearances. At the finals in Russia, Benjamin Pavard began in six of the seven games played by coach Didier Deschamps‘ men – playing the full ninety minutes on each occasion whilst also scoring one of the best goals of the tournament, to intermittently make it 2-2 as France went on to beat Argentina 4-3 in the 'Round of 16'. The goal is in the running for the prize as the official Goal of the Tournament from FIFA. With the exception of the 0-0 draw with Denmark in the final group game, with the ‘Équipe Tricolore’ already through to the knock-out stages, the 22-year-old didn’t miss a minute of World Cup action.
First Buchwald, then Dunga – and now Pavard
To begin the tournament, the Frenchman joined a group of some 35 VfB players to feature at World Cups, such as Hansi Müller, the Förster Brothers, Krassimir Balakov or Zvonimir Soldo. Now Benjamin Pavard is the third of those players to claim the elusive World Cup crown in VfB’s 125-year history.
Two previous Cannstatt Boys went on to win the World Cup: Guido Buchwald enjoyed a 1-0 win over his Argentine VfB team mate José Basualdo to win the title with Germany in Rome in 1990. As captain of Brazil’s Seleção, Carlos Dunga lifted the trophy following a 3-2 penalty shoot-out victory over Italy in the USA in 1994.
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WORLD CUP 2018 in Russlia
Mario Gomez (Germany)
Benjamin Pavard (World champion with France)
WORLD CUP 2014 in Brazil
Arthur Boka (Ivory Coast)
Carlos Gruezo (Ecuador)
Vedad Ibisevic (Bosnia-Herzegovina)
Gotoku Sakai (Japan)
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WORLD CUP 2010 in South Africa
Cacau (Germany)
Sami Khedira (Germany)
Serdar Tasci (Germany)
Arthur Boka (Ivory Coast)
Khalid Boulahrouz (Holland)
Zdravko Kuzmanovic (Serbia)
Ricardo Osorio (Mexico)
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WORLD CUP 2006 in Germany
Timo Hildebrand (Germany)
Thomas Hitzlsperger (Germany)
Ludovic Magnin (Switzerland)
Fernando Meira (Portugal)
WORLD CUP 2002 in Japan & South Korea
Bradley Carnell (South Africa)
Zvonimir Soldo (Croatia)
WORLD CUP 1998 in France
Krassimir Balakov (Bulgaria)
Zvonimir Soldo (Croatia)
Franz Wohlfahrt (Austria)
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WORLD CUP 1994 in the USA
Thomas Berthold (Germany)
Guido Buchwald (Germany)
Thomas Strunz (Germany)
Carlos Dunga (World champion with Brazil)
Adrian Knup (Switzerland)
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WORLD CUP 1990 in Italy
Guido Buchwald (World champion with Germany)
José Basualdo (Argentina)
WORLD CUP 1986 in Mexico
Karl Allgöwer (Germany)
Karlheinz Förster (Germany)
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WORLD CUP 1982 in Spain
Bernd Förster (Germany)
Karlheinz Förster (Germany)
Hansi Müller (Germany)
Didier Six (France)
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WORLD CUP 1978 in Argentina
Hansi Müller (Germany)
Roland Hattenberger (Austria)
WORLD CUP 1966 in England
Klaus-Dieter Sieloff (Germany)
WORLD CUP 1962 in Chile
Günter Sawitzki (Germany)
WORLD CUP 1958 in Sweden
Rudolf Hoffmann (Germany, on call)
Günter Sawitzki (Germany, on call)
The list contains all players who were members of the VfB squad and named in their respective nations World Cup squads for the respective World Cup tournament. VfB players who were on loan at other clubs at the beginning of the respective World Cup finals are not taken into account.