
The Spain U17s, including Iker Bravo, beat Estonia 4-0 in a qualifier for the U17 European Championship. The U19 international, who has already played for the Werkself, came off the subs bench on 66 minutes and he scored the final goal at 4-0 five minutes later. Bravo and Co. had already come out on top against Belgium (1-0) and Bosnia-Herzegovina (4-1). That puts the Spaniards top of Group D unbeaten after three games.
And Bayer 04 new signing Sardar Azmoun also found the back of the net: Having already qualified for the World Cup finals, Iran secured a convincing 2-0 win against Lebanon in their final qualifier. Azmoun played the full 90 minutes and he opened the scoring for his side on 35 minutes. In addition to Iran, hosts Qatar, South Korea, Japan and Saudi Arabia are the qualifiers from Asia to date. The United Arab Emirates and Australia are still in the running. The winners of that game face the fifth-placed team in South America in a play-off.
Ahead of the final qualifiers in South America, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Ecuador were already through to the finals. Peru have finished in fifth place and are now in the play-off against a team from Asia for a slot at the finals. Werkself player Charles Aránguiz and Chile did not qualify. Chile suffered a 2-0 defeat to Uruguay. Aránguiz was in the starting eleven and he went the full distance.
Two Black and Red players faced each other in another game: the qualified team from Ecuador with Piero Hincapie drew 1-1 with fellow finalists Argentina including Exequiel Palacios. Both Leverkusen players were on the pitch: Hincapie played the full 90 minutes in central defence. Pala came on for Mac Allister on 59 minutes.
The Netherlands U21s beat top of the table Switzerland (19 points) 2-0 in a European Championship qualifier and they remain on the heels of the Swiss team in second place with 17 points having played a game less. Particularly good news: Mitchel Bakker was in the starting line-up and he played the full game.
Finland and Lukas Hradecky lost 2-0 to Slovakia in a friendly. The Black and Reds captain was between the sticks for the full duration of the game. Burkina Faso lost 3-0 in their friendly against Belgium. Edmond Tapsoba also played from the start and he was shown a yellow card.

And that’s not all: France clocked up an impressive 5-0 victory over South Africa in a friendly. Moussa Diaby came on as a sub on 64 minutes. The Ivory Coast lost 3-0 to England in a friendly. Bayer 04 defender Odilon Kossounou did not play.
Yesterday’s friendly between the Netherlands and Germany finished all square at 1-1. After Jonathan Tah played the full 90 minutes in the 2-0 win against Israel, he did not feature in this match.

Bayer 04 Leverkusen have appointed Carles Martínez Novell as the new head coach. The 42-year-old Spaniard worked for FC Toulouse in the French Ligue 1 until the end of the season. Martínez finished last term in ninth place with the club from the south of France. He will take over the Werkself on 1 July 2026 and has signed a contract to 30 June 2028. Martínez, whose contract with Toulouse expires at the end of the month, succeeds Kasper Hjulmand at Leverkusen, who is leaving the club after one season.
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Bayer 04 plans for the 2026/27 pre-season continue to take shape. The Werkself will kick off the new season in mid-July with the return to the training ground. The highlight will be the official season opener on 8 August at the BayArena, including a friendly against La Liga club Sevilla. Friendlies in Germany will take the team to neighbouring Monheim, Offenbach and Jena.
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Strengthening the Bayer 04 Leverkusen youth teams: Konstantinos Kotsifakis will join the Werkself from Bundesliga 2 club Hertha Berlin for the 2026/27 season, where he will be a permanent member of the Leverkusen U19 coaching set-up. The German-Greek will also take on an operational role in coaching the Bayer 04 Future Team. The 29-year-old was most recently head coach of the U17s at Hertha Berlin.
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Another award for the Bayer 04 head groundsman and staff: After coming top in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, the BayArena pitch came second in the Bundesliga Pitch of the Year ranking for the 2025/26 season. VfL Wolfsburg secured the top spot this year, with TSG Hoffenheim in third place.
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Opening opponents, derby weekends, the opponents in the season finale: This information and more will be available to Bayer 04 fans on Thursday, 2 July, when the 2026/27 Bundesliga fixture list is published.
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