The German men's national football team departed on Tuesday for the 2026 World Cup in Canada, Mexico, and the USA. The special flight LH434 took off from Frankfurt Airport at approximately 14:30 p.m. local time.
The special flight is headed to Chicago, where Julian Nagelsmann's team will establish their base camp for the first phase of the tournament, before the official opening match on June 11. Before departure, Lufthansa, the official airline of the German Football Association (DFB) for many years, bid farewell to the delegation at a ceremony in the new "Lufthansa Group Hangar One" congress and visitor center at Frankfurt Airport.
For the approximately nine-hour transatlantic flight, the airline used an Airbus A350-900 wide-body aircraft, one of the most modern models in the group's fleet. To ensure optimal recovery conditions for the team and support staff before the tournament began, the aircraft was equipped with the new premium cabin concept "Lufthansa Allegris." This product features redesigned business class seats that convert fully into beds, as well as an enhanced entertainment system. The 14-member cabin crew was led by Captain Freddy Niedner and his cockpit crew.
The scheduled flight was not exclusively reserved for the German Football Association (DFB); regular passengers were also on board, some of whom only learned of the national team's presence shortly before boarding. As a prelude to the major sporting event, all passengers on this flight received an exclusively designed fan jersey, produced in a collaboration between the airline, the DFB, and the sportswear manufacturer Adidas. For the airline, transporting the national team provided a high-reach platform to present its new long-haul product in the important North American market, which is why the company also covered the flight extensively on its own social media channels.
The logistics behind such national team flights require months of advance planning between the DFB travel management, Lufthansa, and the security authorities at the destination airports. Due to the strict entry requirements of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at Chicago O'Hare Airport, customs clearance for the entire delegation and the extensive training equipment was meticulously coordinated in advance to avoid long waiting times after landing. The Airbus A350 will be immediately reintegrated into regular scheduled operations at the Frankfurt hub after transporting the team.