Eintracht Frankfurt stars on November international duty

Ante Rebic faces a baptism of fire on his return to the Croatia setup: the Vatreni meet Greece in a two-legged play-off for the right to feature at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The first leg takes place in Zagreb (09/11, 20:45 CET kick-off), before the teams reconvene for the return in Athens three days later (12/11, 20:45 CET).

Eintracht midfielder Gelson Fernandes and his colleagues in the Switzerland squad also have to negotiate a tricky play-off to book their place in Russia next year: the Nati meet Northern Ireland in Belfast (09/11, 20:45 CET), before welcoming the same opposition to Basel (12/11, 18:00 CET).

Another European side pushing for a place in Russia is Sweden: the Eagles' Branimir Hrgota has been included in the preliminary squad for the World Cup play-off with Italy, the first leg of which takes place in Solna (10/11, 20:45 CET), before the re-run three days later in Milan (13/11, 20:45 CET).

Eintracht goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky will not be in Russia next summer after Finland failed to qualify, but he and his international team-mates nevertheless face Estonia in a friendly in Helsinki (09/11).

Mexico have long since secured their place at the World Cup and as a result El Tri have arranged two friendlies for the international break: Frankfurt defender Carlos Salcedo is in the squad for the meetings with Belgium in Brussels (10/11) and Poland in Gdansk (13/11).

Japan are also in friendly action this month, with Makoto Hasebe likely to feature when the Samurai Blue face Brazil in the French city of Lille (10/11) and then meet Belgium in Bruges (14/11).

Mijat Gacinovic will clock up the air miles as Serbia fly to Guangzhou to face China in a friendly (10/11) and then onwards to Ulsan to take on South Korea (14/11).

Eintracht's other Serbian star, Luka Jovic, has been chosen in his nation's squad for a pair of UEFA European U-21 Championship qualification fixtures against Austria in Vienna (10/11) and Armenia in Yerevan (14/11).

Renat Dadashov has also been called up to the Azerbaijan squad for their U-21 qualifiers: the Eintracht forward will come up against Germany in Baku (09/11) and Kosovo (14/11).

Finally, Aymen Barkok is in the Germany U-20 squad for games against Italy in Chemnitz (09/11, 18.00 CET) and England in Zwickau (14/11, 18.00 CET).