After Saturday's 3-0 defeat to the Netherlands, Germany lost for a second time in succession on Tuesday night: In spite of a brave performance against World Cup winners France, the Germany team under coach Joachim Löw lost 2-1 in Paris. With a reshuffled line-up, Germany took the lead on 14 minutes when former Leverkusen midfielder Toni Kroos converted a penalty but they missed the opportunity to extend their lead. Two goals in the last 30 minutes from Antoine Griezmann (62', 80' pen.) sealed a somewhat unfortunate defeat for the German team who are now unable to be certain of remaining in Group A1 under their own steam. Werkself pro Julian Brandt came off the bench in the closing stages of the game at the Stade de France in the French capital – he replaced Matthias Ginter on 83 minutes but was unable to effect the outcome of the match. As on Saturday, team-mate Jonathan Tah remained on the subs bench for the full 90 minutes and therefore still has to wait to make his fourth full international appearance.
Aleksandar Dragovic also returns to Leverkusen on the back of a defeat. The 27-year-old Austrian was on the wrong end of 2-0 reverse in a friendly away to Denmark on Tuesday night. The Werkself number six was played from the start by the Austria coach Franco Foda and he went the full distance. Issac Kiese Thelin did not play in Sweden's 1-1 draw with Slovakia.
There was better luck for Sam Schreck: Following his debut for the Germany U20 team on Friday, the forward started against Switzerland in the U20 Elite League on Tuesday afternoon and he promptly repaid the confidence shown in him: With 16 minutes on the clock, he made it 2-0 with a long-range effort. The Germany junior side under coach Mikel Schönweitz ran out 3-2 winners in the match in Emden.
Jakub Bednarczyk and the Poland junior team lost 4-1 to the Netherlands in the U20 Elite League. The Werkself pro played on the left side of the back four for the full 90 minutes.
The day before, Lukas Hradecky and Finland celebrated a 2-0 victory over Greece in the Nations League. The Werkself number one kept another clean sheet in the new European competition: He did not concede in the fourth group match as he played his part in ensuring the Eagle Owls (on 12 points) have one foot in the play-offs with two games to play in Group C2 – ahead of Greece (6), Hungary (4) and Estonia (1).
Tin Jedvaj also completed the October international break with a win. On Monday night, Croatia beat Jordan 2-1 in a friendly. The 22-year-old World Cup runner-up, who played the full 90 minutes in the 0-0 draw with England in the Nations League on Friday (Group A4), was brought on with 64 minutes on the clock.
Paulinho was the third Werkself pro in action on Monday. In a 2-2 draw in a friendly for the Brazil U20s against Chile, the 18-year-old came off the bench in the second half for the second time in three days.
The German Football Association (DFB) confirmed the kick-off times for the second round of the 2026/27 DFB Pokal on Thursday. Bayer 04 will meet 1. FC Nürnberg on Wednesday 28 October at 20:45 CET.
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This Wednesday afternoon, the German Football Association (DFB) announced the exact kick-off times for Matchday 6 in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga. According to the fixture list, the Bayer 04 Women’s home match against Werder Bremen will be played on Friday, 2 October, at 18:30 CEST.
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Just in time for the start of the school year, everyone was hard at work again at NaturGut Ophoven. For the 21st time, Bayer 04 have supported the annual ‘BioBrotbox’ campaign, which puts together a healthy breakfast for first-year primary school pupils in Leverkusen – and not only contributed 1,904 muesli bars but also plenty of enthusiasm too: Together with the U19 players Burak Kir and Clinton Wilson, Emily Wallrabenstein and Paulina Platner from the Women’s Bundesliga team helped with the packing. The latter was clearly delighted “that Bayer 04 are helping out with regional projects like this and showing their commitment to the local community”.
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A group of about 50 members of the Bayer 04 Football Academy São Paulo visited Leverkusen over the past few days, accompanied by Bayer 04 club legend Paulo Sergio and Luiz Felipe (managing director of academy in São Paulo) for a week full of football, encounters and very special insights. In addition to the Bundesliga away game in Elversberg and the home game against Union Berlin, the visit also featured a joint training session with the Bayer 04 Football Academy in Leverkusen and a tour of the Bayer AG facilities. The guests also gained special insights into the club and the world of Bayer 04.
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