Kehl gained the first of his 31 caps for the German national team on 29 May 2001, in a 2-0 friendly win against Slovakia in Bremen where he came on for Marko Rehmer after 45 minutes [REF].
Selected for both the 2002 and the 2006 World Cups, Kehl played once (against Paraguay) in the former tournament as the Mannschaft finished in second position, and started in two of his four appearances to help to the third place in the latter [REF].