Noahkai Banks has decided to represent Germany instead of the United States in his international soccer career.
The German Football Federation made the announcement about the former U.S. youth player on Friday.
Banks, 19, is the son of a German mother and an American father. Born in Hawaii, he returned to Germany with his family when he was an infant. He has lived there ever since and joined FC Augsburg’s youth academy at 8 years old.
Banks represented the U.S. at the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup and participated in a training camp with the USMNT in September 2025.
Germany U-21 coach Antonio Di Salvo said that both Banks and Tunisian dual-national forward Louey Ben Farhat had pledged to represent Germany.
“We’ve been in contact with both of them for a while now and had focused our efforts on them,” Di Salvo said in a statement. “I’m very pleased that we have been able to lay out a future pathway with Germany for them and that they agreed with it.”
As recently as last week, U.S. men’s national team coach Mauricio Pochettino said he was still in touch with Banks and was awaiting his decision.
Banks just started his third season with FC Augsburg in the German Bundesliga. He has made 35 career appearances across all competitions, scoring one goal.
–Field Level Media
