
In front of 12,000-strong crowd at the A. Le Coq Arena in the Estonian capital of Tallinn, a brace from Ilkay Gündogan after half-time (51’, 57’) put Germany on the way to victory and substitute Timo Werner rounded off proceedings with the third goal on 71 minutes.
Germany, with Kai Havertz in the starting line-up on the right side of midfield in his seventh international, were a man down for 75 minutes of the game after the former Leverkusen player Emre Can was shown a red card for a professional foul (14’). The German team struggled as a result for much of the game. Nadiem Amiri came off the bench on 86 minutes to win his second cap. Germany are level on points with Holland in second place in Group C with two games to play.
Austria also remain on course to qualify for the European Championships finals. The team coached by Franco Foda beat Slovenia 1-0 in Group G. With Slovenia struggling to make an impression in the game, Stefan Posch scored the winner with a header on 21 minutes. Austria are second to Poland, who are already through to the finals, with a five-point lead over North Macedonia. Skipper Julian Baumgartlinger and Aleksandar Dragovic went the full distance in the win for Austria.
Argentina romped home with a 6-1 victory over Ecuador in a friendly on Sunday. Four days after his goal in the 2-2 draw with Germany, Lucas Alario opened the floodgates on 20 minutes – with another header. The other goals for Argentina in a game played in the Spanish city of Elche were an own goal by Jhon Espinoza (27’) plus strikes from Leandro Parades (32’ pen.), German Pezzella (66’), Nicolas Dominguez (82’) and Lucas Ocampos (86’). Ecuador’s Angel Mena scored a consolation goal on 49 minutes. Alario started but was substituted on 57 minutes.
Joel Pohjanpalo celebrated his return to the Finland team on Saturday. After nearly 18 months ruled out through injury, the Werkself number 17 came on for the second half in the Euro qualifier against Bosnia-Herzegovina and he scored the only goal for the Finns in a four-one defeat. Finland were unable to build on their previous performances in the qualifiers and conceded as many goals in this game as in all the previous matches in the qualifying group. The goals for the hosts were scored by Izet Hajrovic (29’), Miralem Pjanic (37’, 58’ pen.) and Armin Hodzic (73’). Lucas Hradecky was in goal for the Eagle Owls and he produced numerous saves to prevent an even greater defeat. Finland remain in second place in Group J behind Italy who have already qualified. The next game for Finland is against third-placed Armenia on Tuesday (18.00 CET).


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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The next footballing highlight is just around the corner: the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the 23rd edition of the tournament, will be held in the USA, Canada and Mexico and feature 48 teams for the first time. Bayer04.de has all the latest on the Werkself players called up to represent their countries.
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