Noahkai Banks has decided his international future lies with Germany rather than the United States, the German Football Federation announced on Friday.
The 19-year-old is the son of a German mother and an American father. Born in Hawaii, he moved back to Germany with his family as an infant and has lived there ever since, joining FC Augsburg's youth academy at the age of 8.
Banks had previously represented the U.S. at the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup and even took part in a training camp with the USMNT as recently as September 2025. Just last week, U.S. men's national team coach Mauricio Pochettino said he was still in contact with Banks and awaiting his decision on which country to represent.
That decision has now gone Germany's way. Germany U-21 coach Antonio Di Salvo confirmed that Banks, along with Tunisian dual-national forward Louey Ben Farhat, had both pledged their international futures to 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."
Banks has just begun his third season with FC Augsburg in the Bundesliga. He has made 35 career appearances for the club across all competitions, scoring one goal.
