Who is called 'Nemo' by his team-mates and which player 'cools down' by listening to AC/DC? Find out here.
This article is part of the Guardian's Euro 2012 Experts' Network, a co-operation between 16 of the best media organisations from the countries who have qualified for the finals in Poland and Ukraine. guardian.co.uk is running previews from two countries each day in the runup to the tournament kicking off on 8 June.
Mesut Ozil
His team-mates at Real Madrid call him "Nemo", after the fish from the animated film Finding Nemo, because of his distinctive eyes. Ozil has admitted that he first learned of his nickname from the press.
Manuel Neuer
Germany's goalkeeper was already a club member at Schalke 04 at the tender age of four. Later he became a member of the "Buerschenschaft" ultras group, whose T-shirt he continued to wear under his jersey long after becoming the keeper in Schalke's first team. There was thus more than the usual commotion when he moved to Bayern Munich in the summer of 2011. The Schalke fans mourned the loss of their talisman, while some of Bayern's supporters didn't want to have Neuer at all, even though he was well on the way to becoming a world-class keeper – after all, he had once deliberately riled them after a Schalke away win in Munich with a parody of Bayern hero Oliver Kahn! Emotions have since calmed down: Neuer is a Bayern player like any other and the Schalke fans have found themselves a new hero in Raúl.
Neuer has also admitted he likes to listen to AC/DC before games. "With AC/DC I cool myself down and I won't risk a red card so that I weaken my team's chances to win the game. The last man must always project strength and that is what I try to do," he said.
Sami Khedira
The midfielder from Real Madrid recently became unwittingly embroiled in a media storm. In his father's homeland, Tunisia, three journalists were arrested because they had reprinted a photograph of Khedira in which his hand is covering the breasts of his girlfriend, the well-known model Lena Gercke. The picture, which had been produced for a German men's magazine, was evidently too explicit for the Tunisian authorities. Ultimately the publisher of the Attounissia newspaper was fined the equivalent of £400.
Lars and Sven Bender
Sven missed out on a place in the squad but should the twin brothers find themselves on the pitch at the same time for the national team in the near future, they would become the first twins to play together for Germany for nearly 40 years. Schalke's Erwin and Helmut Kremers played together in three internationals in 1973. However the Kremers twins never played alongside each other in a tournament: Erwin played in the finals of the European Championship in 1972 and Helmut at the World Cup in 1974.
Thomas Müller
The top goalscorer of the 2010 World Cup has a famous namesake and predecessor in the national side. Gerd Müller, a winner at the 1972 European Championships and 1974 World Cup. Gerd Müller is still the most successful German goalscorer ever, with 68 goals in 62 internationals. In 2010, the new and the old Müller appeared together in a commercial. The plot: Thomas catches Gerd as he sneaks to the fridge and pinches his milk. He reprimands Gerd, saying: "But it's specifically got my name on it!" Gerd replies: "And mine too!"
Maybe you have to see it to fully understand the, er, brilliance …
Müller had a fall with a mountain bike just before the 2010 World Cup but luckily enough recovered in time for the tournament. He also told his girlfriend Lisa that he thought he had "no chance" to get a place in Bayern's amateur team after signing a contract with them. Two years later he was playing in the World Cup.
Tim Jürgens writes for the German football magazine 11Freunde
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