For Florian Wirtz, this year's Fritz Walter Medal in the U19 age group is the second gold following on from 2020 (U17). Simon Rolfes, Bayer 04 sporting managing director said: "It's an award Florian absolutely deserves. The sporting value attributed to him and the quality in him seen by the DFB is proven by the fact that this Fritz Walter Medal has been awarded to him where he was unable to play for eight months due to his torn cruciate."
Rolfes also spoke about the future of the 19-year-old playmaker Wirtz: "Florian has nearly got over this difficult time and he will come back stronger than before. I'm not alone in seeing him as one of the most important players in German football over the next ten years."
Wirtz, who has been at the Werkself since January 2020, is following in big footsteps as a winner of the Fritz Walter Medal: Benjamin Henrichs won gold in the U19 category in 2016 and he was followed in the same age group two years later by homegrown player Kai Havertz.
The Fritz Walter Medal has also been awarded to young female players for the first time this year: That was decided by the DFB following their 'Equal play' reform. That means this year's award and those in future go both to the best male players as well as female players in the U17 and U19 age groups with gold, silver and bronze medals being awarded.
Two gold medals came straight to women's youth players at Leverkusen: Lisanne Gräwe won the award in the U19 age group and her Bayer 04 teammate Clara Fröhlich was the winner in the U17 category. "These awards are confirmation of the successful work with young talents at Bayer 04," said Thomas Eichin, head of the Youth & Women teams. "Giving young female players from our own ranks the chance to gain a foothold in the Bundesliga is a big part of our strategy relating to the development of women's football at Bayer 04."
A total of 24 players received the highest individual awards in German youth football this year. The background in comparison to previous years with higher numbers of winners now is the Equal Play principle being applied to the award of the Fritz Walter Medals in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Leverkusen player Clara Fröhlich received the award for last year belatedly.
The German Football Association (DFB) has paid between €10,000 and €20,000 to amateur clubs who were involved in the development of the talents who won the Fritz Walter Medal.
Leverkusen winners of the Fritz Walter Medal :
2022: Florian Wirtz (U19/Gold), Lisanne Gräwe (U19 Women/Gold), Clara Fröhlich (U17 Women/Gold)
2020: Florian Wirtz (U17/Gold)
2018: Kai Havertz (U19/Gold)
2016: Benjamin Henrichs (U19/Gold); Kai Havertz (U17/Silver)
2015: Jonathan Tah (U19/Gold)
2014: Julian Brandt (U18/Gold); Levin Öztunali (U18/Silver)
2013: Dominik Kohr (U19/Bronze)
2012: Dominik Kohr (U18/Bronze)
2010: Kolja Pusch (U17/Bronze)
2008: Marcel Risse (U19/Bronze); Richard Sukuta-Pasu (U18/Bronze)
2007: Stefan Reinartz (U18/Bronze); Nils Teixeira (U17/Bronze)
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Bayer 04 will have to manage without striker Christian Kofane in the coming weeks. The 20-year-old sustained a muscle injury to his left thigh on international duty with the Cameroon national team during the recent international break. This will prevent him from playing in the upcoming Werkself matches.
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FSV Mainz 05 went into the international break on the back of an away win at Borussia Mönchengladbach. Currently sixth in the table, the Rheinhessen side – who have been impressive on the road – now aim to continue their good start to the Bundesliga campaign at home when they face the Werkself on Saturday, 10 October (kick-off: 15:30 CEST). In terms of squad selection, Urs Fischer once again has more options at his disposal. Up front, the Mainz coach is likely to continue relying on what is currently the league’s most successful strike partnership. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Exciting experiences and exclusive insights into the Werkself and the BayArena awaited the young footballers from the BA04 Football Academy Guangzhou in China during their visit to the Rhineland this week. As well as taking part in a joint training session with the Bayer 04 Football Academy, the youngsters marvelled at the Bundesliga club’s stadium during a guided tour. The highlight of the visit was a private press conference with former Bayer 04 striker Stefan Kießling, during which he shared tips from his own career with the young players. On Saturday afternoon, 10 October, the group will round off their visit by supporting the Werkself in the away match in Mainz.
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Fans ask, Carolin Simon answers: As part of Bayer 04’s second Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit, the Leverkusen captain took questions from the community. The full-back, who returned to the club this summer after ten years away, set aside an hour and a half for the Q&A session with fans, offering a very personal insight into, amongst other things, her daily life as a footballer and her role as captain, as well as her passion for Pokémon.
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