In their second game in the Nations League, following the 0-0 draw in the opener against France, Germany suffered a 3-0 defeat to neighbours Holland. Virgil Van Dijk put the hosts 1-0 up from a corner on the half-hour mark in Amsterdam. Germany missed three good chances in the first half with Thomas Müller (2) and Timo Werner failing to find the back of the net. Joachim Löw's team also had chances to score after the restart with the best falling to Leroy Sané (65') and Julian Draxler (70'). Julian Brandt came on to replace debutant Mark Uth on 68 minutes to make his 21st appearance for Germany but he was unable to turn the game round. Goals from Memphis Depay (86') and Georginio Wijnaldum (90+3') sealed the win late on.
Jonathan Tah, who captained the Germany U21s to a 2-1 victory over Norway on Friday night to secure a place in next year's European Championship finals in Italy and San Marino, was called up to the senior squad by Germany coach Joachim Löw on Saturday for Tuesday's Nations League game in France.
Tin Jedvaj was in the starting line-up for World Cup runners-up Croatia for the 0-0 draw against England in Rijeka. The match was played behind closed doors – Croatia received a ban from UEFA in 2015. In the re-run of one of the semi-final games at the World Cup in Russia, Jedvaj went the full distance at right back. Austria beat Northern Ireland 1-0 in the Nations League (Group B). Aleksandar Dragovic was brought ob by coach Franco Foda in the final minutes of the game to help seal the win .
Goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky kept a clean sheet in the third international game in succession for Finland in Group C of the Nations League. The former Schalke player Teemu Pukki scored the only goal of the game against Estonia in added time. Sweden drew 0-0 with Russia in Group B of the Nations League. Isaac Kiese Thelin started in Kaliningrad but was substituted on 71 minutes.
In the 1-1 draw for the Germany U20s against Holland in Meppen, Sam Schreck had as little impact as Jakub Bednarczyk in the Poland U20's 3-0 win against the Czech Republic.
Attacking midfielder Paulina Bartz is leaving Bayer 04 Leverkusen for good on a permanent move to Hamburger SV in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga. The 21-year-old, who was on loan to the newly promoted side in the winter, originally had a contract to 2027.
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The Bayer 04 Football School opened in 2007 – now this successful programme is getting a new name and a new logo: with immediate effect, the Bayer 04 Football School powered by BarmeniaGothaer is becoming the Bayer 04 Football Academy powered by BarmeniaGothaer.
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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 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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The sustainable use of the BayArena seats removed as part of the current stadium upgrade has taken on a new dimension: Following on from numerous Bayer 04 fans receiving their ‘Undefeated Champions seats’ and various clubs and community organisations from Leverkusen and the wider region having collected the dismantled seats, Blau-Gelbe Kreuz e.V. also made their way to the BayArena recently. The German-Ukrainian aid organisation took away around 2,100 seats; in Ukraine, these will be used to upgrade the sports infrastructure of two clubs.
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