By OkayGoal
Noahkai Banks has made his international decision.
Banks’ one-time international switch to represent Germany has been approved by FIFA, the federation announced Friday. The switch comes in part of Banks’ recent call-up to the German Under-21 team, per the federation’s announcement.
Germany Under-21 head coach Antonio Di Salvo said in a federation statement that both Banks and Tunisian dual-national forward Louey Ben Farhat have both made their decisions final.
“We’ve been in contact with both of them for a while now and had focused our efforts on them,” Di Salvo said. “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.”
Due to Banks’ participation with the USYNT at the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup, he needed to file the one-time international switch with FIFA.
Banks was called into the USMNT squad in September 2025 but did not feature in friendlies against South Korea and Japan. He was projected to be part of the USMNT’s World Cup roster last summer, but turned down a call up in order to focus on his international decision.
The 19-year-old was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to an American father and German mother before moving to Germany at seven-weeks old. He has mainly lived in Germany and came up through the ranks at Bundesliga side Augsburg.
Banks is currently in his third season with Augsburg and has made four appearances to date during the current campaign. He scored one goal and added one assist in 23 appearances last season, which served as a breakout for the versatile defender.
His departure to Germany is a major loss for the USMNT, who are back on the field this month in their first matches post-World Cup.