Germany missed out on taking a decisive step in qualifying for the 2020 European Championships. The duel with the neighbours from the Netherlands on Friday 6 September ended in a 4-2 defeat for the German team. The goals for Joachim Löw’s side were scored by Serge Gnabry (9') and Toni Kroos (73' pen.); Frenkie de Jong, Jonathan Tah (o.g. 65'), Donyell Malen (79') and Georgino Wijnaldum (91') netted for the Oranje.
Playing in his home city, Tah was in the starting eleven in front of a capacity 51,299 crowd at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg. With Bayer 04 head coach Peter Bosz looking on, the Werkself number four played the full 90 minutes in a back three alongside Niklas Süle and Matthias Ginter. Kai Havertz started on the bench and came on in the 61st minute.
In spite of the defeat, Germany (nine points) have the chance to lead Group C on Monday 9 September. In a 20.45 CET kick-off in Belfast, Germany face Northern Ireland who have the maximum return of twelve points from four games to date.
Austria have maintained their challenge in Group G. The team led by captain Julian Baumgartlinger, who played for 75 minutes, beat bottom of the group Latvia 6-0. Aleksandar Dragovic was on the pitch for 82 minutes in Salzburg.
There were no winners in the duel between Lucas Alario and Charles Aránguiz; the friendly between Argentina and Chile in Los Angeles ended in a goalless draw. Alario came off the bench on the hour mark and Aránguiz was in the starting line-up for La Roja and he was brought off with two minutes to play
Lukas Hradecky remains on the road to success with his national side. Finland beat Greece 1-0 in the Euro qualifiers and are in second place in Group J behind leaders Italy. Hradecky played the full 90 minutes.
Paulinho was a winner with the Brazil U23 side in a friendly against Colombia and he too played the full 90 minutes in a 2-0 victory.
Moussa Diaby featured in the convincing 4-0 win for the France U21s in a friendly against Albania in Amiens. The Werkself midfielder went the full distance.
Panos Retsos tasted defeat with the Greece U21s. Playing against the Germany U21s coached by Stefan Kuntz, Greece, who played with ten men after 37 minutes due to a sending off, lost 2-0 in Zwickau. Retsos had the chance to score a consolation goal with four minutes to play but his header was saved by goalkeeper Lennart Grill.
Remaining fixtures for Bayer 04 players:
Kai Havertz, Jonathan Tah (Germany)
Monday 9 September (20.45 CET, Belfast): Northern Ireland v Germany (Euro qualifiers, Group C)
Charles Aránguiz (Chile)
Wednesday 11 September (03.30 CET, San Pedro Sula): Honduras v Chile (friendly)
Lucas Alario (Argentina)
Tuesday 10 September (04.00 CET, San Antonio): Argentina v Mexico (friendly)
Leon Bailey (Jamaica)
Saturday 7 September (02.00 CET, Montego Bay): Jamaica v Antigua & Barbuda (CONCACAF Nations League)
Tuesday 10 September (02.00 CET, Georgetown): Guyana v Jamaica (CONCACAF Nations League)
Julian Baumgartlinger, Aleksandar Dragovic (Austria)
Monday 9 September (20.45 CET, Warsaw): Poland v Austria (Euro qualifiers, Group G)
Lukas Hradecky (Finland)
Sunday 8 September (20.45 CET, Tampere): Finland v Italy (Euro qualifiers Group J)
Paulinho (Brazil U23)
Tuesday 10 September (01.00 CET, Sao Paolo): Brazil U23 v Chile U23 (friendly)
Moussa Diaby (France U21)
Monday 9 September (21.00 CET, Troyes): France U21 v Czech Republic U21 (friendly)
Panos Retsos (Greece U21)
Tuesday 10 September (16.30 CET, Athens): Greece U21 v Lithuania U21 (friendly)
Adrian Stanilewicz (Poland U20)
Monday 9 September (15.00 CET, Rzeszow): Poland U20 v Portugal U20 (friendly)
Mark Lamti (Tunisia U23)
Friday 6 September (20.45 CET, Yaundé): Cameroon U23 v Tunisia U23 (U23 Africa Cup qualifier)
Tuesday 10 September (20.45 CET, Tunis): Tunisia U23 v Cameroon U23 (U23 Africa Cup qualifier)
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...
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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 personalised 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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With their wonderful goals, Martin Terrier and Florian Wirtz are up for the Bundesliga Goal of the Year 2025. Voting for fans will run exclusively via the official Bundesliga app until Sunday, 4 January.
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The ‘year after’ the most successful year in the club's history brought many changes at Bayer 04. In an exclusive double interview with bayer04.de shortly before the Christmas break, Fernando Carro and Simon Rolfes spoke about building a new team capable of winning trophies, the work of coach Kasper Hjulmand, the young new signings who have quickly developed into key players, and their personal plans for the Christmas holidays. Their outlook for the coming year also shows that the potential is far from exhausted and ambitions remain high.
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Last-minute ecstasy, huge disappointment and a historic performance on the European stage - 2025 was a real emotional roller coaster, especially for the U19s. A rousing run in the knockout phase secured the team a place in the final of the German championships, where they lost by the narrowest of margins. Despite the departure of several key players, the young Werkself team quickly regained their usual strength and qualified for the knockout rounds in the UEFA Youth League for the first time at the end of the year. In 2025, youngsters Jeremiah Mensah and Montrell Culbreath made their debuts in the Bundesliga, the DFB Pokal and the UEFA Champions League. The other youth teams also contributed great performances and a number of trophies to the collective Black and Red success, while the successful Bayer 04 Future Kids project broke new ground. Read on for the 2025 review of the youth teams.
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