Switzerland's winners Beat Hefti and Thomas Lamparter, from left, pose for the media after the two-men bob race at the bob World Cup in Innsbruck, Austria, Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013. (AP Photo/Kerstin Joensson)
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Switzerland's winners Beat Hefti and Thomas Lamparter, from left, pose for the media after the two-men bob race at the bob World Cup in Innsbruck, Austria, Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013. (AP Photo/Kerstin Joensson)
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Germany's second placed Thomas Florschuetz and Kevin Kuske, Switzerland's winner Beat Hefti and Thomas Lamparter and Germany's third placed Francesco Friedrich and Jannis Baecker, from left, celebrate on the podium after the two-men bob race at the bob World Cup in Innsbruck, Austria, Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013. (AP Photo/Kerstin Joensson)
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Switzerland's winners Beat Hefti, front, and Thomas Lamparter celebrate in the finish area after the two-men bob race at the pose for the media after the two-men bob race at the bob World Cup in Innsbruck, Austria, Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013. (AP Photo/Kerstin Joensson)
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Passengers wait at the security check at the airport in Hamburg, Germany, Friday Feb. 15, 2013. For the second day in a row, security personnel is on strike. (AP Photo/dpa,Angelika Warmuth)
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Leverkusen's Lars Bender, second left, reacts while Munich teammates celebrate after scoring during the German first division Bundesliga soccer match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Bayern Munich in Leverkusen, Germany, Saturday, March 16, 2013. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
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Team Germany, from left, Veronique Hronek, Felix Neureuther, Fritz Dopfer and Lena Duerr react after winning the Nation team event at the Alpine ski World Cup in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, Friday, March 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Armando Trovati)
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Slovenia's Tina Maze celebrates after winning an alpine ski, women's world cup super-combined, in Meribel, France, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. (AP Photo//Marco Trovati)
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Newcastle United's Moussa Sissoko celebrates after scoring during their English Premier League soccer match against Chelsea at St James' Park, Newcastle, England, Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)
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Newcastle United's Moussa Sissoko, celebrates after scoring his goal during their English Premier League soccer match against Chelsea at St James' Park, Newcastle, England, Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)
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Lazio's Miroslav Klose, of Germany, left, vies for the ball with Genoa's Francelin Matuzalem of Brazil during a Serie A soccer match between Genoa and Lazio, at Genoa's Luigi Ferraris stadium, Italy, Sunday, Feb 3, 2013. (AP Photo/Francesco Pecoraro)
Loew says smaller nations should pre-qualify
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Germany coach Joachim Loew would like to see a pre-qualifying round for so-called smaller nations ahead of World Cup and European Championship competitions.
Loew says the international calendar is full and that it should be reduced. Loew tells Kicker magazine he is not sure "it made sporting sense" to play twice against teams like "Kazakhstan, Andorra, San Marino or the Faeroe Islands."
Loew was speaking before Germany's two World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan, in Astana on Friday and in Nuremberg four days later. Germany's group includes the Faeroe Islands.
Some German football officials have floated such ideas before. German Football Federation president Wolfgang Niersbach says they have no chance of being accepted by UEFA, the European governing body.
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ap, european union, astana, uefa, nuremberg, italy, coach joachim loew, san marino, loew, munich, france, teams, world cup, sports, friday, frankfurt, germany, switzerland, chance, sense, germany national football team, denmark, kazakhstan, qualifiers, andorra, faeroe islands, german football, international calendar, kicker magazine, smaller nations, so-called smaller nations, european championship competitions, federation president wolfgang, european governing body, german football officials
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