Happy Birthday Mitch. The Dutchman celebrates his 22nd birthday on this Monday 20 June. The defender is currently on holiday after appearing for the Netherlands U21 team that sealed qualification for the European Championships.
Bakker joined Bayer 04 from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2020. The left-back grew up just outside Amsterdam and he joined the renowned Ajax academy at the age of ten. He played for all the youth teams before signing for PSG for the 2019/20 season. He made 30 appearances, scored one goal and provided five assists for Bayer 04 last term.
A great honour: Piero Hincapie has been nominated for the Golden Boy Award 2022. The Werkself defender is one of 22 Bundesliga players selected as candidates for the award. The Werkself number 33 joins last season’s second and third-placed players Jude Bellingham and Jamal Musiala from the German league. Bayer 04 new signing Adam Hlozek is also on the list.
The Italian sports journal Tuttosport has published a list of Europe’s 100 best U21 players in the middle of June since 2003. This is reduced by 20 players a month until there are 20 in the middle of October. The final assessment is made by 40 journalists from different countries.
The Ecuadorian is currently leading on 57 per cent. Black and Red supporters can vote for Hincapie HERE.
Don’t forget: The Black and Reds, in partnership with JAKO, launched a recycling campaign on Friday 17 June. Old football shirts, regardless of type, can be dropped off at the Bayer 04 fan shop in Wiesdorf up to Friday 24 June. As a thank you, all participants will receive a 25% discount voucher for the JAKO online store. Under the heading ‘Recycled Polyester’, the focus is on sustainable recycling management in textile production.
JAKO will deliver the recycled clothing to a start-up business in Aachen, which produces new textile granulate using a new recycling process and thereby creates the basis for new sportswear.
Rudi Völler was on the Bild live stream programme ‘Lage der Liga’ on Sunday morning (19 June). In a one-hour broadcast, the 62-year-old talked about a possible move by Mario Götze to Eintracht Frankfurt as well as Bayern Munich and the transfer rumours surrounding Robert Lewandowski.
The broadcast is available in full HERE.
With their wonderful goals, Martin Terrier and Florian Wirtz are up for the Bundesliga Goal of the Year 2025. Voting for fans will run exclusively via the official Bundesliga app until Sunday, 4 January.
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Last-minute ecstasy, huge disappointment and a historic performance on the European stage - 2025 was a real emotional roller coaster, especially for the U19s. A rousing run in the knockout phase secured the team a place in the final of the German championships, where they lost by the narrowest of margins. Despite the departure of several key players, the young Werkself team quickly regained their usual strength and qualified for the knockout rounds in the UEFA Youth League for the first time at the end of the year. In 2025, youngsters Jeremiah Mensah and Montrell Culbreath made their debuts in the Bundesliga, the DFB Pokal and the UEFA Champions League. The other youth teams also contributed great performances and a number of trophies to the collective Black and Red success, while the successful Bayer 04 Future Kids project broke new ground. Read on for the 2025 review of the youth teams.
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Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
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A memorable 12 months: 2025 was a year marked by success, intense competition and groundbreaking innovations for the #B04eSports team. After ending the 2024/25 season as runners-up, the Leverkusen-based console pros got down to business in a new, completely restructured season model, in which showdowns rather than divisions were the decisive factor on the road to the final round of the German Club Championship. Bayer 04 quickly earned a place in the history books of the most prestigious competition in German eSports and secured some valuable advantages for the coming year. Bayer04.de takes a look back at 12 months full of passion and the determination to take the next step.
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Sustainability once again had many faces at Bayer 04 in 2025: In community activity, the club supported countless regional campaigns, including the Leverkusener Tafel, the Frauenennotruf Leverkusen e.V. and the homeless aid organisation "Kältegang". But the Black and Reds have also been involved in good causes around the world - including the Young Coaches training programmes in Uganda and Ecuador plus the Genuine World Cup in the USA, where the Inclusion Werkself competed. Bayer 04 was also fully committed to the environment and underwent external and independently certification in accordance with the European environmental management standard EMAS, for example, to analyse and optimise the club’s environmental efforts. Looking back at sustainability in 2025.
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