From aspiring youth talent to Bundesliga first team regular: Florian Wirtz became a favourite for everybody who supports Bayer 04 last season at the age of just 18. The versatile forward provided eight goals and eight assists in 38 games. He also became a European Champion with the Germany U21s in the summer. These stats plus his inimitable dribbling and clever passes have secured Wirtz a place in the list of nominations for the Golden Boy Award.
The award by the Italian sports journal Tuttosport for the most promising U21 talent worldwide is very well respected. Also in the vote alongside Wirtz are eleven other Bundesliga players and the list contains 100 U21 talents. Tuttosport have presented the Golden Boy Award since 2003 and previous winners include Lionel Messi (2005), Mario Götze (2011), Kylian Mbappe (2017) and the most recently Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland.
Kai Havertz and Kevin Volland could hardly have found a better phone a friend alternative. The former Leverkusen players took part in a YouTube based ‘DFB EURO taxi’ that included answering quiz questions. But the Germany players did not have a clue about the question of who was the host country for the 1972 European Championship.
They immediately made use of their phone a friend option – as they called up Rudi Völler. The Bayer 04 sporting managing director obviously leapt at the chance of supporting the former charges. Although the 61-year-old was sitting in his favourite restaurant and had a glass of wine, he naturally knew the right answer: "Belgium". It's good to have such experienced friends...
From the first team to the youth talents: The Bayer 04 U17s start the Leverkusen weekend of friendlies. The team under Jan Hoepner and Thomas Zdebel play the U19 team of Fortuna Köln on Saturday, 19 June. The kick-off at the Kurtekotten Performance Centre is at 11.00 CEST.
That is followed the next day by the U13 team playing Jugendsport Wenau at 11.00 CEST. The oldest year group at Bayer 04, the U19s, face TuS Koblenz on Tuesday night, 22 June (kick-off: 19.00 CEST). Both of those friendlies will also be played at Kurtekotten.
Finally, we have put together a few social media highlights for you. Enjoy the following formats, short videos and photos:
The penultimate Bundesliga matchday of the calendar year marks the end of an eventful first half of the season for the Bayer 04 Women. After seven wins, one draw and four defeats from the first twelve games of the season, coach Roberto Pätzold's team can go above Werder Bremen in the table with a win on Friday, 12 December (kick-off: 18:30 CET).
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The third showdown in the VBL Club Championship 2025/26 kicks off for the Leverkusen eSports team this Thursday, 11 December (live on the B04eSports Twitch channel from 19:00 CET). In the online preliminary round, the Black and Red will once again take on six previously drawn opponents for a place in the Top 16 and the associated entry into the offline knockout round, which will take place at this third showdown on 19 December in Cologne. Showdown One winners Bayer 04 will face FC St. Pauli, who won the second showdown last month, among others. The lowdown on first three opponents in this online preliminary round.
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The exact dates for the quarter-finals of the 2025/26 DFB Pokal have been finalised. Accordingly, Bayer 04's home tie against Bundesliga rivals FC St. Pauli will be played on Tuesday, 3 February 2026, with the kick-off at 20:45 CET. This was announced by the German Football Association (DFB) today (Thursday).
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After a strong first half, the Werkself conceded twice against Newcastle United in the UEFA Champions League but fought back and " deservedly earned the draw at the end", as captain Robert Andrich aptly put it. Despite opportunities for further Bayer 04 goals, the positive feeling about the irrepressible commitment the final minutes predominated. The Werkself review.
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Alejandro Grimaldo, of course! With his late equaliser (88') in the Champions League clash against Newcastle United, the Spaniard rescued a point for the Werkself, who took the lead through an own goal by Newcastle's Bruno Guimaraes (13') but went with two goals for the visitors scored by Anthony Gordon (51') and Lewis Miley (74'). It was the third draw for Bayer 04 in the current 2025/26 campaign on matchday 6 in the UCL league phase.
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