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.
The FIFA World Cup 2026 in the USA, Canada and Mexico is underway. A total of eight Leverkusen players are taking part in the 23rd World Cup, with 48 teams in the tournament for the first time. Bayer04.de brings you all the latest from Werkself players at the World Cup.
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At the end of June, Bayer 04 became the first team in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga to begin their pre-season preparations. As well as training sessions at the Kurtekotten facility, the players under coach Roberto Pätzold completed the customary series of performance diagnostics. Werkself-TV presents exclusive insights and player interviews from the first few days after the summer break.
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The German Football League (DFL) has published the full fixture list for the 2026/27 Bundesliga season. Following Bayer 04's previously announced opening match away to newly-promoted SV 07 Elversberg, the Werkself's first home match of the new league season is against 1. FC Union Berlin. The 34th and final Bundesliga fixture is on 22 May 2027 at 15:30 CEST away to last season's Bundesliga 2 champions Schalke 04.
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Following their 4–3 opening victory against Denmark, the Germany U19s made it two wins out of two by defeating hosts Wales, securing their place in the semi-finals with a game to spare. In the 4–0 win, Bayer 04 players Montrell Culbreath and Francis Onyeka once again put in impressive performances, with both finding the back of the net.
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