Kahn's performance with the national team
Kahn's place in the national team
Kahn was initially selected as a third goalkeeper for the German national soccer team for the 1994 FIFA World Cup; however, it was not until June 23, 1995, two months after his return from an ACL injury, that he made his international debut, helping Germany to a 2-1 victory over Switzerland. During the 1996 UEFA European Football Championships, Kahn again won the title with Germany in England as a substitute goalkeeper behind Oliver Lake. He similarly spent the 1998 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament in France on the bench until Andreas Kepke announced his retirement, making Kahn the starting goalkeeper. Two years later at the 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, Germany crashed out of the group stage and Kahn took over the captain's armband as successor to striker Oliver Bierhoff.
In 2001, Kahn had one of the worst performances of his international career when Germany played England in a 2002 World Cup qualifying match in Munich. Having gained the psychological advantage of a 1-0 win at Wembley in the first leg of the tie, Germany lost 1-5, with striker Michael Owen scoring a hat-trick. Despite the loss, Germany qualified for the final round by beating Ukraine in the play-offs, and Kahn will still be the No. 1 goalkeeper at the upcoming World Cup. In the same year, Kahn was voted World Goalkeeper of the Year by the Fédération Internationale de Football History et de Statistique (FIFA) for the second time in his career.
Despite low expectations for Germany at the 2002 World Cup, the team managed to reach the finals, with Kahn being held to only three goals in the entire tournament, two of which were in the final. For his outstanding play throughout the tournament, the FIFA Technical Study Group decided to award Kahn the World Cup Yassin Prize and, for the first time in history, the World Cup Ballon d'Or to a goalkeeper. He also became the first German goalkeeper to go five games without conceding a goal in a World Cup final round.
Kahn continued his position as the number 1 goalkeeper during the 2004 UEFA European Football Championship. However, Germany was again eliminated in the group stage. Kahn relinquished the captain's armband after that tournament and awarded it to Michaël Ballack instead. On July 26 of the same year, Jürgen Klinsmann took over from Rudi Voller as Germany's manager, and he adopted a rotation policy between Kahn and his rival, Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann, to stimulate competition between the two.
On April 7, 2006, after two years of disputing the position, Klinsmann announced that Lehmann would be his first choice for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Kahn decided to stay in the team to compete as a substitute; despite their heated clashes over starting positions, Kahn publicly accepted Klinsmann's decision before the tournament began. Before the quarter-final penalty shootout against Argentina, Kahn and Lehmann hugged and shook hands with each other as the former sent his encouragement and best wishes.
After starting and beating Portugal in the 2006 World Cup play-offs, Kahn announced his retirement from the German team. He made 89 appearances in his national team career, including 49 starts as captain. He has never won a World Cup, but has finished as runner-up in 2002 and third-place in 2006, respectively.
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Kahn's national team career
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