In addition to the Leverkusen Germany international, five other Bundesliga players are in the running: Jamal Musiala, Ryan Gravenberch (both Bayern Munich) Karim Adeyemi and Jude Bellingham (both Borussia Dortmund) plus Josko Gvardiol (RB Leipzig). The other candidates are Nuno Mendes (Paris Saint-Germain), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid) and Gavi (Barcelona).
The trophy will be presented at the 66th award of the Ballon d‘Or, which is to be held at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris on 17 October. The winner of the Kopa Trophy will be selected by the former Ballon d'Or winners like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
The award for the best U21 player of the year has been presented since 2018 with Kylian Mbappe the first winner. FC Bayern new signing Matthijs De Ligt was the winner in 2019. The trophy was not awarded two years ago due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The trophy was last won by the Spaniard Pedri (Barcelona).
Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without the two strikers in the immediate future. Caroline Kehrer suffered a torn ligament in her right knee and Amy Wrigge tore her cruciate ligament.
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The #B04eSports players now have the next chance to win a trophy. After their elimination in the quarter-finals of the VBL Club Championship Final 2025/26, the German club championship, Marc and Sean Landwehr will compete with seven other teams in the finals of the DFB-ePokal 2026 with prize money totalling €65,000. The "highly motivated" Leverkusen team will face the defending champions FOKUS with well-known influencer Elias ‘EliasN97’ Nerlich in the quarter-finals in Frankfurt on Friday, 20 March (from 18:15 CET). The semi-finals and final will be played on Saturday, 21 March.
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Bayer 04 host Bayern Munich in the semi-finals of the 2025/26 DFB Pokal. The tie will be played on Wednesday, 22 April 2026, at the BayArena with the kick-off at 20:45 CEST. Information on ticket sales.
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Bayer 04 have the chance to reach the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League for the third time ever and the first in 14 years at Arsenal on Tuesday night (kick-off 21:00 CEST/20:00 local time). To do that, the Werkself not only require a strong performance like in the first leg, but also full concentration until the very last minute, as the Premier League leaders like to score late - as they did at the BayArena last week. Here's the Matchday News.
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A special award for special social commitment. At this year's ceremony for the Sepp Herberger Awards in Wolfsburg on Monday night, the DFB Sepp Herberger Foundation recognised Bayer 04 in the social rehabilitation category. The Bundesliga club received the prize, together with €12,000, for its great service to inmates, particularly in the Wuppertal-Ronsdorf prison.
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