Bernd Leno and Julian Brandt helped secure a place in Russia for Germany at the World Cup finals on Thursday. The two Bayer 04 players did not play in the 3-1 victory over Northern Ireland but can hope to get a start in Sunday's final qualifier (20.45 CET) against Azerbaijan in Kaiserslautern. Speaking at the pre-match press conference on Saturday, Joachim Löw said Bernd Leno would be in goal on Sunday.
The Germany U21s secured a 6-1 victory over Azerbaijan in the second European Championship qualifier. Jonathan Tah captained Stefan Kuntz's team and played the full 90 minutes, Benjamin Henrichs provided the assist for the third goal from left back before being substituted on 67 minutes. The European Champions are in action in Norway on Tuesday.
The chance of qualifying for next year's World Cup in Russia is out of their reach but Julian Baumgartlinger and Joel Pohjanpalo had reason to celebrate. 'Baumi' captained Austria in the impressive 3-2 win against group-leaders Serbia, 'Danger' secured a point for Finland with a last-minute goal in the surprise 1-1 draw with Croatia. Both Leverkusen players went the full distance.
Sidelined in Leverkusen, the crossed fingers of Charles Aránguiz may well have helped: Chile kept their hopes of qualifying alive in the South American group with a late winner in the 2-1 victory over Ecuador with the other results seeing them rise to third spot ahead of the final match against the qualified Brazil on Tuesday with one game to play and everything to play for in their hands in the night to Wednesday.
The Germany U19 s are on a good run at the moment with a trio of Bayer 04 players making a decisive contribution. After Kai Havertz had a fantastic day in Wednesday's 5-1 win in the European Championship qualifiers in Poland with four goals and one assist, Atakan Akkaynak and Sam Schreck followed up with two great performances. The two Bayer 04 lads scored the first two goals for Germany in Saturday's runaway 7-1 win against Northern Ireland, with Havertz making it 4-1 from the penalty spot. All three played the full 90 minutes. The Germany U19s take on hosts Poland on Tuesday (18.00 CET) in the race for top spot.
The Germany U17s started the World Cup finals in India with a 2-1 win against Costa Rica. Jan Boller of Bayer 04 had a good game in central defence, Goalkeeper Marian Prinz did not play in Goa. The ambitious Germany team face Iran (Tuesday) and Guinea (Friday) in the two remaining group matches.
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss against VfL Wolfsburg on the 2nd matchday of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga 2026/27.
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Bayer 04’s eight opponents in the group stage of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League have been confirmed. At the draw on Friday 28 August held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, the Werkself were drawn against two opponents from each of the four pots. There are a total of four home and four away matches. Read on for details of opponents and fixture dates.
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In the 3-2 defeat at Bundesliga newcomers SV 07 Elversberg, the Werkself found the back of the net in the closing stages and, with a bit of luck, could still have equalised. “Today, our play wasn’t good enough, particularly when it came to the basics,” said head coach Carles Martínez. Like the boss, Ibrahim Maza also wants to learn from the match and look ahead: “Next week, people should be able to see from the very first minute that we want it more than our opponents.” The Werkself review on the Bundesliga opener in 2026/27.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-3 loss at SV 07 Elversberg on Matchday 1 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
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No points to start the league campaign: Bayer 04 lost 3-2 away to newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg in the first Bundesliga match of the 2026/27 campaign. Two quick-fire goals from Lukas Petkov (8’) and Cole Campbell (10’) gave the hosts an early lead, before David Mokwa scored the Saarland side’s third shortly after half-time (46’). In the closing stages, the Werkself rallied and staged a late comeback with goals from Patrik Schick (77’) and Christian Kofane (90+1’), but the Black and Reds were denied an equaliser.
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