
Led by captain Julian Baumgartlinger and Aleksandar Dragovic, Austria took a big step towards qualifying for next year's European Championships. The Austrians produced a good performance to register a 3-1 win against Israel in the Group G match at the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna. Eran Zahavy (34') gave the visitors the lead before the former Hertha Berlin player Valentino Lazaro (41') plus Eintracht Frankfurt's Martin Hinteregger (56') and Leipzig's Marcel Sabitzer (88') scored to turn the game round. Baumgartlinger played the full 90 minutes in defensive midfield and Dragovic also went the distance in central defence. Austria are now in second place in the group behind Poland having gone ahead of their next opponents in the qualifiers, Slovenia (Sunday, 13 October, 20.45 CET).
In the U21 Euro qualifiers, Panagiotis Retsos captained Greece in a 1-1 draw in the Czech Republic that keeps them top of Group 4. Playing with ten men for much of the game after a sending off on 24 minutes, Greece took the lead just before half-time with a strike from Giannis Bouzoukis (45') but the hosts levelled on 76 minutes with Adam Hlozek getting on the scoresheet. Retsos played in defensive midfield for the full 90 minutes. The 21-year-old should be in the senior Greece squad on Tuesday (15 October, 20.45 CET) for European qualifier against Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Moussa Diaby was in the France U21s for a convincing 5-0 home win against Azerbaijan in Group 2 in the European qualifiers. The French side dominated proceedings from the start in Calais – Odsonne Édouard (2', 36') gave the hosts the lead before Dortmund's Dan-Axel Zagadou converted an assist from Diaby to make it 3-0 on 40 minutes. Houssem Aouar (51') and Arnaud Nordin (76’) rounded off the scoring in the second half. The Werkself number 19 played the whole game on the right wing.
The Brazil Olympic team beat Venezuela 4-1 in a friendly. Paulinho, who was on the left wing for the full 90 minutes, provided both assists for Antony just after the restart to put the SeleçãoOlímpica on course for victory at the Estadio dos Aflitos in Recife. Before that, Cristian Cásseres Jr. (37') levelled the score after Douglas Luiz gave the hosts the lead on 24 minutes. Pedro made it 4-1 for the Brazil U23s with the final goal on 73 minutes.
Adrian Stanilewicz celebrated a last-minute win with the Poland U20s against Germany: The winner in the Elite League match came in the final minute as Poland won 4-3. In front of a crowd of 2,000 in Norderstedt in Schleswig-Holstein, Tomasz Makowski opened the scoring for the visitors in the first minute before the Germany U20s turned the game round with goals from Manuel Wintzheimer (7', 21' pen.) and John Yeboah Zamora (36'). In the end Marcel Zylla (40'), Dawid Kurmiokowski (48') and Lukasz Poreba (90') secured the win for Poland. Stanilewicz played for 62 minutes.


This evening was deeply moving: At a really special setting, Bayer 04 exclusively presented the specially produced documentary ‘Fierté Burkinabè’ ("Burkinabe Pride") about Edmond Tapsoba on Tuesday. For the preview at the BayArena, the parents of the Werkself player and other close companions travelled all the way from his African homeland Burkina Faso. The 45-minute film shows Tapsoba's extraordinary career from his beginnings in Ouagadougou to Leverkusen as well as the work of his foundation "Fondation Edmond Tapsoba", with representatives from Burkina Faso also present. Fans can watch the documentary free of charge on Werkself TV and YouTube from Wednesday night at 20:00 CEST.
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Bayer 04 have signed left-back Carolin Simon from champions Bayern Munich for the coming season. The 33-year-old former Germany international, who played for Leverkusen from 2013 to 2016, has signed a contract to 30 June 2028.
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Bayer 04 Women have strengthened for the coming season with the signing of Lobke Loone. The 23-year-old Dutch striker joins from Utrecht on a contract until 30 June 2028.
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The Werkself returned from the near one-month break in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga with a convincing victory at home. Roberto Pätzold's side beat SC Freiburg 4-1 on Sunday afternoon, with goals from Katharina Piljic, Estrella Merino Gonzalez, Cornelia Kramer and Carlotta Wamser ensuring a 13th win of the season at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion. The Black and Reds, who are now on 40 points, move up to fourth place at least overnight.
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