
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.

Newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg will begin the 2026/27 season as Bundesliga club number 59. The Saarland club start their first Bundesliga campaign at home to the Werkself on Saturday, 29 August (kick-off 15:30 CEST) at the URSAPHARM Arena on Kaiserlinde, which is currently being rebuilt. For one Leverkusen player in the ‘Elv’ line-up, the clash will be a special reunion. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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The fixture details for the Bayer 04 Women’s first match in the 2026/27 DFB Pokal has been confirmed: As announced by the German Football Association (DFB) on Thursday morning, the Leverkusen Women will face second-tier side FC Viktoria Berlin in the first round on Sunday 27 September at 14:00 CEST.
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Once again, well over 100 Werkself fans were delighted to receive an invitation from the club’s record appearance-maker, Rüdiger Vollborn, to the sold-out Schwadbud at the BayArena. This time, the supporters listened as the club historian provided fascinating, exclusive insights into the period from Bayer 04 being founded in 1904 to the club’s promotion to the Bundesliga in 1979. A journey through time is also planned for the upcoming ‘Rudi lädt ein’ event in early November – this time focusing on the years of the Nazi regime.
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Getting in the mood for the new season together, exchanging ideas and looking ahead to the coming months: Bayer 04 welcomed partners to the BayArena for the annual sponsors season-launch event. In a relaxed atmosphere, the management, head coach and players came together with representatives from partner companies to celebrate the start of the 2026/27 season.
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