Germany played World Cup winners France in their first outing in the newly created European competition (Group A). In the first match since the early exit in Russia, Joachim Löw's team were on top for much of the game but failed to convert their chances and the encounter ended in a 0-0 draw –Julian Brandt, Kai Havertz and Jonathan Tah did not get on so Havertz has to wait for his debut on the international stage. That could happen on Sunday (9 September, 20.45 CET) when Germany play Peru in a friendly in Sinsheim.
Aleksandar Dragovic (Austria), Issac Kiese Thelin (Sweden), Tin Jedvaj (Croatia) were in action with their national teams in friendlies on Thursday night: Austria beat Sweden 2-0 in Vienna. Kiese Thelin played in the first half for the visitors and Dragovic came off the bench for Austria for the second half. At the same time, World Cup runners-up drew 1-1 with Portugal – Jedvaj came on after 35 minutes.
Jakub Bednarczyk started for the Poland U20s (substituted on 85 minutes) in a 3-0 defeat against Italy in an eight team tournament in Lodz. New signing Paulinho played for the Brazil U20 team on Wednesday in 1-0 victory away to Mexico.
While their team-mates are away from Leverkusen on international duty, the rest of the Werkself in Leverkusen continue with their training regime. After the closed session on Wednesday, Herrlich's squad trained again yesterday morning. Good news: Wendell has recovered from the knock he picked up against Wolfsburg, which sidelined him for the past few days – the Brazilian full-back completed an individual 45-minute session on the neighbouring pitch.
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 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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