The start of the black and red evening at the Euros saw Austria with Aleksandar Dragovic and Julian Baumgartlinger play Ukraine for second place in Group C. Austria came out on top to secure qualification for the Round of 16 the team under coach Franco Foda.
With Dragovic in the starting line-up, Christoph Baumgartner (TSG Hoffenheim) scored the only goal of the game on 21 minutes. Baumgartlinger was not in the squad as was the case in the 2-0 defeat against the Netherlands.
As the second-placed team in Group C, Austria meet Italy, the runaway winners of Group A, in the Round of 16. The kick-off on Saturday, 26 June, is at 21.00 CEST with the match probably played in London.
Group B was also decided this evening. Finland with goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky and striker Joel Pohjanpalo were up against the group favourites Belgium while Russia and Denmark played each other at the same time. The Finish team were level at 0-0 at half-time, also due in part to several impressive interventions by Hradecky. Belgium broke the deadlock with 15 minutes to play: From a corner, Thomas Vermaelen hit the woodwork and the ball bounced down off the arm of the Finnish keeper over the line. The second goal of the game was scored by striker Romelu Lukaku (81').
Finland finished third in Group B on three points and now they have to wait for the remaining results in the parallel groups. Four of the six third-placed teams will reach the Round of 16.
The fifth Werkself player at Euro 2020, Patrik Schick, is in a position to cause a medium surprise with his Czech Republic teammates and, like Austria, also go through under their own steam. The team ranked 40th in the world are currently top of Group D with four points from two games. The last group encounter for the Czech Republic is on Tuesday, 22 June (kick-off: 21.00 CEST) against England who have the same number of points. A draw would see Schick and his fellow players in the 'Reprezentace' go through to the Round of 16.
Winger Synne Skinnes Hansen is leaving Bayer 04 Leverkusen at the end of the season. The 29-year-old, who will be out of contract, is set to join Valerenga IF back home in Norway.
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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 as he worked 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 personalised 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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Analysing and further developing goalkeeping together is the target of the annual goalkeeping coaches meeting of the German Football Association (DFB). The goalkeeping coaches in the Bundesliga, Bundesliga 2 and the third division, divided into regional groups, meet every year under the guidance of DFB goalkeeping coordinator Marc Ziegler. Following 2023, the meeting of the goalkeeping coaches of professional clubs from the Western region took place yesterday, Tuesday 29 April, at the BayArena for the second time. The Werkself goalkeeping coach David Thiel acted as the host of the meeting and he made an impromptu contribution.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have agreed to loan U19 striker Artem Stepanov to FC Nürnberg, currently tenth in Bundesliga 2, for the 2025/26 season. The Ukrainian centre-forward is set to gain match practice at a high level under the guidance of FCN coach and World Cup winner Miroslav Klose. The loan is due to run for twelve months.
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