
Germany v Brazil, the defending champions again the record World Cup winners. Bernd Leno and Julian Brandt watched the kick-off from the subs' bench at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. An intense and hard-fought encounter in front of 71,000 fans ended in a 1-0 win for the South American side. Gabriel Jesus netted the winner for the Selecao eight minutes before half-time – goalkeeper Kevin Trapp got to the ball but was unable to keep out the header from the Manchester City striker. Brandt replaced Leroy Sané on the hour mark to earn his fourteenth cap for Germany.
Club coach Heiko Herrlich was probably not disappointed that Charles Aránguiz and Panos Retsos were not in the starting line-ups for Chile in Denmark and Greece against Egypt after the pair had played for 90 minutes on Saturday. They ended up watching the games that ended in a 0-0 draw for Chile and a 1-0 win for Greece. Julian Baumgartlinger once again captained Austria for a friendly in Luxembourg. The result of the match was a 4-0 victory for Austria with 'Baumi' coming off on 65 minutes
The Germany U21 only managed to draw 0-0 in the Euro qualifier in Kosovo. The captain Jonathan Tah was not in the squad due to a problem with his back, Benjamin Henrichs produced another reliable performance at right back as he went the full distance. The goalless draw did not live up the expectations of the Germany team but Stefan Kuntz's men remain top of Group 5 with seven of ten games played.
For the Germany U19s led by skipper Kai Havertz the final match in the Euro qualifiers against the Netherlands was a decider: Germany needed to win and they could not afford a victory for Norway over Scotland in the other game. The night in front of 3,600 fans in Ahlen ended in disappointment for the hosts after a dramatic game. Germany produced an impressive performance to win 4-1 but Norway came back from 4-2 down to win 5-4 in the last minute to deny Germany a place in the European Championship finals in Finland in the summer. The Germany team left the pitch with heads bowed. "Nobody really knows how to deal with the situation. I really feel sorry for the team," said the downhearted Germany coach Meikel Schönweitz. Kai Havertz had a good game scoring the opener and converting a penalty to make it 4-1 – his seventh goal in eight games for the Germany U19s. Atakan Akkaynak and Sam Schreck watched the match from the bench.


Following the summer break of around two months, the Bayer 04 first team squad took to the training pitches at the BayArena for the first time on Tuesday – and the players were in high spirits. Alongside the newly formed coaching team led by head coach Carles Martínez, new signing Afonso Moreira also completed his first session with the squad. In front of several hundred Bayer 04 fans at the open session, numerous Werkself players worked up a good sweat. The Leverkusen players who took part in the World Cup will join pre-season training at a later date.
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In mid-August, the Werkself will set off on a four-day trip to England to play their final two friendly matches of the 2026/27 pre-season against Premier League clubs Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United. The match in Nottingham against the Tricky Trees is on Wednesday 12 August at 20:45 CEST (19:45 BST) at the City Ground. The game against the Magpies in Newcastle is on Saturday 15 August at 16:00 CEST (15:00 BST) at the atmospheric St James’ Park. Details on ticket sales for both matches.
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Black and Red talent development at the highest level – even off the pitch: Apprentices Jule Suermann, Leandra Bellia and Julia Niederheide have successfully completed their two- or three-year apprenticeships at the club. Bayer 04 honoured the trio at the BayArena on Tuesday.
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Rieden reloaded: Just like last year, the Bayer 04 Women’s team are spending their summer training camp in this idyllic corner of Bavaria. From this Sunday, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team will be based in Rieden in the Upper Palatinate for a week.
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