From London to Leverkusen: Callum Hudson-Odoi leaves his birthplace for the first time in his career as a football player to join Bayer 04. He joined Chelsea at the age of six and his Ghanaian father Bismark Odoi was also a professional footballer in Ghana. Callum progressed through all the youth teams at the Blues over the following eleven years. He made his debut for the U18s at the age of 15, the U23s at 16, and he finally stepped up to the senior squad in 2017.
The fast and technically gifted Hudson-Odoi made his Premier League debut on 31 January 2018 under the then Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte in a 3-0 defeat at home to Bournemouth. He made one more league appearance in his first season.
The right footer went on to play more frequently in England's top flight in the following years. He played nine games in the UEFA Europa League in 2018/19 and joined his teammates in celebrating winning the title after a 4-1 victory against Arsenal in the final. Hudson-Odoi played a significant role in Chelsea's European triumph with four goals and two assists.
The Londoner celebrated the biggest success of his short career to date in the following year by winning the UEFA Champions League. The winger played an important role in the 2020/21 Champions League campaign with two goals in seven games and, after beating Manchester City 1-0 in the final, he lifted the trophy together with Werkself home-grown player, scorer of the winner in the final, and teammate Kai Havertz. Callum also won the FIFA Club World Cup with the Blues.
Hudson-Odoi has learned one thing in particular in his time at Chelsea as he explained in an interview with fifa.com: "The mentality was for us to score goals or always look to finish. Team spirit was and is really important for that. You never play alone and success is only possible as a team."
At the age of 21, Hudson-Odoi can already look back at 72 appearances in the Premier League, 17 in the Champions League as well as nine in the Europa League.
The Bayer 04 Women have made good use of the international break. In stormy weather, the Werkself beat top-flight Dutch team NAC Breda 8-1 in a friendly on Thursday afternoon. Caroline Kehrer (5’/18’), Paulina Bartz (15’), Valentina Mädl (38’/69’/79’) and Vanessa Fudalla (53’) scored for the Leverkusen side.
Show moreWerkself-TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-7 loss against Paris Saint-Germain on the 3rd matchday of the UEFA Champions League 2025/26...
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Six Leverkusen players will be on the road during the first international break of the current season. While one is set to play for Germany in the final round of the UEFA Women's Nations League, another could be making her debut for the Germany U19s.
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The next match in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga has been scheduled: The Werkself will play their Matchday 11 game on a Saturday afternoon. This was announced by the German Football Association (DFB) on Wednesday afternoon.
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Bayer 04 welcomed former Chinese forward Chen Yang, the first player from his country to play in the Bundesliga, to the BayArena on Monday as part of a collaboration with Bundesliga International. The initiative aims to promote Bundesliga stories and behind-the-scenes content for the Chinese market ahead of the launch of Chen’s Douyin (China’s TikTok) social media channel later this month.
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