Josha Vagnoman receives silver Fritz Walter medal

Revered accolade for HSV player Josha Vagnoman; the 18-year-old full-back will in September receive the silver Fritz Walter Medal, which is awarded by the DFB every year to the best German youth players, at home or abroad. “The Fritz Walter medal has established itself as the most meaningful individual honour that a German youth player can receive,” said Joti Chatzialexiou. “The award winners are not only exceptionally gifted on the field, but have become real leaders in their respective national youth teams over the past year,” the sporting director for Germany’s youth teams explained. 

Vagnoman is Hamburg born-and-bred, having been with the club since 2010, rising through the ranks at Hamburg as well as at international level, representing Germany at under-17 and under-19 level, and playing eleven times for the HSV first team last season in the second division. The medal ceremony will fittingly take place at the place that Vagnoman has called home for the past 9 years, on the afternoon of the Euro 2020 qualification game between Germany and the Netherlands on the 6th September. 

The winners of the gold Fritz Walter medals this year go to Ajax’s Nicolas-Gerrit Kühn and FC Liefering’s Karim Adeyemi, whilst the award for best junior female player goes to Freiburg’s Klara Bühl. Vagnoman’s fellow silver medallists are Jordan Meyer of VfB Stuttgart and Lena Sophie Oberdorf of SGS Essen. Yann Aurel Bisseck (Holstein Kiel), Lazar Samardzic (Hertha BSC) and Gia Corley (Bayern Munich) are this year’s bronze medal winners.