Our number 11 made 39 appearances for the Werkself last season and the Ludwigshafen-born player was directly involved in 14 goals. After five full international appearances for Germany in Euro qualifiers and international friendlies, the 2017 U21 European Champion is set to play in the Olympic football tournament in Japan. As one of the three players allowed to be over 23 years old, Nadiem Amiri will assume a leadership role in the DFB squad.
The Germany Olympic squad under U21 national coach Stefan Kuntz play the title holders Brazil (kick-off: 13.30 CEST) in the group stage on 22 July, a day before the official opening of the Olympic Games. Saudi Arabia are the next opponents three days later (kick-off: 13.30 CEST). Germany's last match in the race for a quarter-final slot is on 28 July against the Ivory Coast (kick-off: 10.00 CEST) in the final group game.
In addition to Amiri, another Werkself player is included in his country's Olympic team. There will be a head-to-head in Group D when Germany with Amiri face Brazil with Bayer 04 offensive player Paulinho.
To date the men's and women's footballers at Bayer 04 have collected a complete set of medals. In the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul (South Korea), Thomas Hörster and Christian Schreier on bronze for Germany. In 2016 there was silver for Lars Bender and Julian Brandt and Sven Bender within the team under coach Horst Hrubesch for the defeat in the final. Annike Krahn was a winner that year. The Bayer 04 defender was in the Germany team under coach Silvia Neid that beat Sweden 2-1 in the final. Krahn ended her international career after that and a year later hung up her boots at club level.
After their first win on matchday 6 in the UCL league phase, Olympiacos are still in with a good chance of reaching the play-offs in the UEFA Champions League. The 2024 UEFA Conference League winners will be looking to go one better in their home match against Bayer 04 this Tuesday, 20 January (kick-off: 21:00 CET), but their stop scorer is unavailable. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Panagiotis, known as Panos, Retsos wore the Bayer 04 jersey for three years. Including his loan spells, he was under contract with the Werkself for a total of four and a half years. "It's a very special club for me," said the 27-year-old, who returned to his boyhood club Olympiacos in 2022, in an interview with bayer04.de. The former Leverkusen man is now captain and a first choice for the Werkself's next opponents in the UEFA Champions League. Ahead of the clash on Tuesday night, 20 January (kick-off: 21:00 CET), Retsos talks about his fond memories of his time in Leverkusen and the imminent reunion with some of his former team-mates. He also talks about who brought him to Leverkusen and why he likes getting older.
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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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Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without goalkeeper Mark Flekken and forward Nathan Tella for the time being.
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After a week in the Algarve, the Bayer 04 Women returned home on Saturday afternoon. The Werkself had six training sessions, two friendlies and a lot of time together as a team. Roberto Pätzold's team will be back in action in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga next Friday for the start of matchday 15.
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