Ahead of the kick-off in Dortmund, the DFB president Reinhard Grindel gave Podolski an official farewell. Podolski thanked the fans in person for their support over the past 13 years. A fan choreography of a giant carnival cap celebrated the striker's international career.
England made the brighter start in the friendly and they had the better chances in the first half. Adam Lallana hit the woodwork on 31 minutes and Marc André ter Stegen kept out Dele Alli ten minutes later. Joachim Löw's team were lucky to go into the half-time break on equal terms.
Wonder goal from Podolski
The hosts upped their game after the restart. And Julian Brandt was involved in the first really good move: His long-range effort just went wide of Joe Hart's goal on 48 minutes. Brandt, winning his fifth cap, was substituted on the hour mark and he saw the decisive moment of the match from the bench. 69 minutes into his final international appearance, Lukas Podolski unleashed a hammer of a shot from 25 yards out that flew into the top left corner. A wonder goal! Shortly after that, Leroy Sané had the chance to double the lead for the now significantly stronger German side. With six minutes to play, Podolski left the field to a standing ovation. Germany won the friendly 1-0 and now go on to play Azerbaijan in Baku in a World Cup qualifier on Sunday (18.00 CET).
World Cup qualifiers on Friday
The next Werkself pros are in action for their national sides on Friday. Ömer Toprak and Joel Pohjanpalo could face each other in the World Cup qualifier between Turkey and Finland (18.00 CET). In other World Cup qualification games Tin Jedvaj is set to play for Croatia against Ukraine (20.45 CET), Aleksandar Dragovic and Julian Baumgartlinger are with Austria against Moldova (20.45 CET) and Charles Aránguiz is with Chile against Argentina (00.30 CET). Benjamin Henrichs and the Germany U21 side face England in a friendly on Friday (20.00 CET).
Having progressed to the DFB Pokal Round of 16, the Bayer 04 Women do not have much time before their next Bundesliga fixture. On Friday night (18:30 CEST), coach Roberto Pätzold’s side kick off matchday six at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium against Werder Bremen – and they have a clear mission.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career working as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personal Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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Bayer 04 host top French club Marseille at the BayArena on matchday four in the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League group stage. The match kicks off on Thursday 5 November at 21:00 CET. The latest information on ticket sales.
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During the international break, Bayer 04 will face third-division newcomers SC Fortuna Köln on Friday 2 October (kick-off: 11:00 CEST). The match will be played on training pitch 1 at the BayArena, as preparations are already underway at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium for the Bayer 04 women’s Bundesliga home match against Werder Bremen, which is due to kick off in the early evening. To ensure the friendly against Fortuna Köln runs smoothly and without disruption, it will be played behind closed doors.
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