After the 16-year-old Iker Bravo made his first senior appearance in the DFB Cup game against Karlsruher SC (1-2), the young Spanish striker made his Bundesliga debut on Sunday, 7 November in the match at Hertha Berlin (1-1). Bravo was, for a few minutes, the youngest Bundesliga player in the history of Bayer 04 – until Zidan Sertdemir came on from the bench. Now comes the next highlight for the top talent who joined Leverkusen from Barcelona in the summer: His goal from an overhead kick in the U19 match against Fortuna Düsseldorf has been nominated for the October Goal of the Month on the ARD Sportschau.
The Spaniard scored his first two goals for Bayer 04 in that match at the end of October. And his second goal on 75 minutes was a real beauty: With the score at 1-1, he did an overhead kick to put the ball in the back of the net and turn the game round in favour of the Black and Reds (final score 3-1). You can see his remarkable feat again HERE. Bayer 04 fans can vote for Bravo's outstanding strike now online at sportschau.de or by calling 01371/36900 (€0.14 /call from German landline).
Also nominated are Breel Embolo (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Katharina Naschenweng (TSG Hoffenheim), David Blacha (SV Meppen) and Sebastian Klaas (VfL Osnabrück). The vote closes on 27 November at 19.00 CET.
Another important step in the professionalisation of women's football: The streaming platform ata football has acquired the rights for the current and coming 2022/23 season to show a large number of games from the FLYERALARM Women's Bundesliga.
Selected matches from the FFBL will be shown in their entirety on atafootball.com and on nbcsport.com. Matches will also be shown in full after games have ended and there will also be highlights.
Prick up your ears: Radio Leverkusen will report on the Werkself charity match against a City of Leverkusen team in their morning show tomorrow (Tuesday) morning from 6 a.m. that will include an interview with Bayer 04 honorary captain Stefan Kießling and a Werkself fan who was involved in the clear-up work in Leverkusen and surroundings following the terrible floods in July.
The Bayer 04 first team are playing at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium on Wednesday, 10 November from 18.30 CET to provide support for the victims of the flood disaster. All profits from the event will go to the Leverkusen Community Foundation. Tickets are available at the Bayer 04 online shop for five euros.
The Bayer 04 women’s team secured a win in the friendly during the international break. Without a total of eight international players, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team defeated Bundesliga 2 side Borussia Mönchengladbach 3–1 at the Kurtekotten Training Centre, thanks to goals from Lobke Loonen (1’, penalty), Caroline Kehrer (41') and Valentina Mädl (66').
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Bayer 04 will have to manage without striker Christian Kofane in the coming weeks. The 20-year-old sustained a muscle injury to his left thigh on international duty with the Cameroon national team during the recent international break. This will prevent him from playing in the upcoming Werkself matches.
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FSV Mainz 05 went into the international break on the back of an away win at Borussia Mönchengladbach. Currently sixth in the table, the Rheinhessen side – who have been impressive on the road – now aim to continue their good start to the Bundesliga campaign at home when they face the Werkself on Saturday, 10 October (kick-off: 15:30 CEST). In terms of squad selection, Urs Fischer once again has more options at his disposal. Up front, the Mainz coach is likely to continue relying on what is currently the league’s most successful strike partnership. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Exciting experiences and exclusive insights into the Werkself and the BayArena awaited the young footballers from the BA04 Football Academy Guangzhou in China during their visit to the Rhineland this week. As well as taking part in a joint training session with the Bayer 04 Football Academy, the youngsters marvelled at the Bundesliga club’s stadium during a guided tour. The highlight of the visit was a private press conference with former Bayer 04 striker Stefan Kießling, during which he shared tips from his own career with the young players. On Saturday afternoon, 10 October, the group will round off their visit by supporting the Werkself in the away match in Mainz.
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Fans ask, Carolin Simon answers: As part of Bayer 04’s second Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit, the Leverkusen captain took questions from the community. The full-back, who returned to the club this summer after ten years away, set aside an hour and a half for the Q&A session with fans, offering a very personal insight into, amongst other things, her daily life as a footballer and her role as captain, as well as her passion for Pokémon.
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