before becoming an american citizen, zelalem had previously played for germany's youth teams. he played for germany's under-15 and under-16 sides, making two appearances for the under-15s and eight appearances for the under-16s. in november 2013, zelalem represented germany at under-17 level in a friendly versus spain. but in march 2014, he withdrew from the germany under-17 national team for the group 5 2014 uefa european under-17 football championship elite round fixtures, and again turned down the germany under-18 national team for friendly matches versus france in march 2015, citing his desire to represent the united states instead.