
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.


Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
Show more
The Werkself began 2026 with defeat, losing 4-1 at home to VfB Stuttgart on Matchday 16 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga. Jamie Leweling opened the scoring early, with Maximilian Mittelstädt making it 2-0 from a penalty before Leweling again and Deniz Undav increased the lead to 4-0 just before half-time. Alejandro Grimaldo's penalty reduced the deficit midway through the second period.
Show more
Bayer 04 Leverkusen has gained a new partner in digital gaming platform Crown Coins, which joins the Bundesliga runners-up's Sponsors Club with immediate effect. The one-and-a-half-year contract runs until 30 June 2027.
Show more
The Werkself host VfB Stuttgart this evening (10 January, 18:30 CET), a side whose recent Bundesliga form has been indifferent but who have regularly produced top performances in the DFB Pokal and UEFA Europa League, and who have a key player back in the squad in striker Ermedin Demirovic. Off the pitch, the BayArena faithful will be able to see the remaining stoppage time live on the video screens. The Matchday News.
Show more