Other nominees from the Bundesliga, alongside Edmond Tapsoba from Burkina Faso, are Ramy Bensebaini (Algeria/Borussia Dortmund) and Serhou Guirassy (Guinea/VfB Stuttgart).
Tapsoba recently played his 150th game for Bayer 04 in the 2-1 home win against SC Freiburg. The central defender will be involved in the Africa Cup of Nations in the Ivory Coast from 13 January 2024. If selected, Bayer 04 players involved in the competition will also include Amine Adli (Morocco), Victor Boniface (Nigeria) plus Odilon Kossounou (Ivory Coast) in addition to Tapsoba (Burkina Faso). All the national teams of those Leverkusen players have qualified for the AFCON finals.
In mid-August, the Werkself will set off on a four-day trip to England to play their final two friendly matches of the 2026/27 pre-season against Premier League clubs Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United. The match in Nottingham against the Tricky Trees is on Wednesday 12 August at 20:45 CEST (19:45 BST) at the City Ground. The game against the Magpies in Newcastle is on Saturday 15 August at 16:00 CEST (15:00 BST) at the atmospheric St James’ Park. Details on ticket sales for both matches.
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Black and Red talent development at the highest level – even off the pitch: Apprentices Jule Suermann, Leandra Bellia and Julia Niederheide have successfully completed their two- or three-year apprenticeships at the club. Bayer 04 honoured the trio at the BayArena on Tuesday.
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The Germany U19 team were beaten 2-0 by record champions Spain in the final of the U19 European Championship in Wales. Bayer 04 players Montrell Culbreath and Francis Onyeka (on loan at SV 07 Elversberg) were in the starting line-up and played the full 90 minutes.
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Bayer 04 Women have boosted their firepower with the signing of Poland international Paulina Tomasiak. The 24-year-old striker moves to Leverkusen from Gornik Leczna in her homeland on a two-year contract.
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