The 19-year-old Bayer 04 player Florian Wirtz has been called up to the Germany squad for the first time since his torn cruciate in March of last year. The team under coach Hansi Flick will play two friendly fixtures in the coming international break: First against Peru in Mainz on 25 March and the opponents three days later in Cologne are Belgium.
Seven Werkself players will be in action in European qualifiers. Moussa Diaby has been called up to the France team with the first match against the Netherlands on Friday 24 March. The Équipe Tricolore are in Dublin three days later to play Ireland.
The Czech Adam Hlozek will be with his national team for a Euro qualifier in Prague against Poland on 24 March. The Leverkusen player then heads to Chisinau three days later for the game against Moldova. Werkself skipper Lukas Hradecky also has two games with the Finland team in the Euro qualifiers: Finland play Denmark next Thursday 23 March. Northern Ireland provide the opposition in Belfast three days later. Austria with the Leverkusen winter signing Patrick Pentz in the squad are preparing for two matches in Linz. Azerbaijan are the opposition on Friday 24 March and that is followed three days later by the international against Estonia.
Bayer 04 are also represented South of Europe: In Edmond Tapsoba and Odilon Kossounou, two Werkself players are in the qualifying rounds for the Africa Cup of Nations. Tapsoba has two matches with Burkina Faso against Togo and Kossounou and the Ivory Coast also play two games against the Comoros.
In addition to Wirtz and the Germany team, for other Werkself players are involved with friendlies. World Cup winner Exequiel Palacios heads to Argentina where the Leverkusen player and his fellow countrymen first play Panama and then Curacao. For Piero Hincapie, the international break takes him to the other end of the world: Ecuador have two games against Australia in Melbourne. Sardar Azmoun faces Russia in the Iranian capital Teheran.
Mitchel Bakker and Jeremie Frimpong And the Netherlands U21 squad are in Spain. The Oranje team have two friendlies against the Northern Irish and Czech U21 teams. Amine Adli is with the France U21 side once in England and once in France.
Noah Mbamba will be Bremen with the Belgium U19s for games against Slovenia, Italy and Germany.
International fixtures involving Bayer 04 players:
Florian Wirtz (Friendlies):
25.03, 20.45 CET, Germany vs Peru, Mainz
28.03, 20.45 CEST, Germany vs Belgium, Cologne
Moussa Diaby (Euro qualifiers):
25.03, 20.45 CET, France vs Netherlands, Paris
27.03, 20.45 CEST, Ireland vs France, Dublin
Adam Hlozek (Euro qualifiers):
24.03, 20.45 CET, Czechia vs Poland, Prague
27.03, 20.45 CEST, Moldova vs Czechia, Chisinau
Lukas Hradecky (Euro qualifiers):
23.03, 20.45 CET, Denmark vs Finland, Copenhagen
26.03, 20.45 CET, Northern Ireland vs Finland, Belfast
Patrick Pentz (Euro qualifiers):
24.03, 20.45 CET, Austria vs Azerbaijan, Linz
27.03, 20.45 CEST, Austria vs Estonia, Linz
Odilon Kossounou (Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers):
24.03, 17.00 CET, Ivory Coast vs Comoros, Bouaké
28.03, 15.00 CEST, Comoros vs Ivory Coast, Moroni
Edmond Tapsoba (Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers):
24.03, 21.00 CET, Burkina Faso vs Togo, Marrakesh
28.03, 21.00 CEST, Togo vs Burkina Faso, Lomé
Exequiel Palacios (Friendlies):
24.03., 01.00 CET, Argentina vs Panama, Buenos Aires
28.03., Time TBC, Argentina vs Curacao, Santiago del Estero
Piero Hincapie (Friendlies):
24.03, 10.00 CET, Australia vs Ecuador, Melbourne
28.03, 10.30 CEST, Australia vs Ecuador, Melbourne
Sardar Azmoun (Friendly):
23.03, 17.00 CET, Iran vs Russia, Teheran
Mitchel Bakker and Jeremie Frimpong (U21 friendlies):
25.03, 18.00 CET, Northern Ireland U21 vs Netherlands U21, Pinatar
27.03, 14.00 CEST, Czechia U21 vs Netherlands U21, Pinatar
Amine Adli (U21 friendlies):
25.03, 18.00 CET, England U21 vs France U21, Leicester
28.03, 18.30 CEST, France U21 vs Spain U21, Vannes
Noah Mbamba (U19 tournament):
22.03, 16.00 CET, Slovenia U19 vs Belgium U19, Bremen
25.03, 16.00 CET, Belgium U19 vs Germany U19, Bremen
28.03, 12.00 CEST, Italy U19 vs Belgium U19, Bremen
Bayer 04 entertain third-placed VfB Stuttgart in the penultimate Bundesliga home game. The match at the BayArena is today Saturday 27 April (kick-off: 18.30 CEST/live on Sky and on Werkself Radio). The latest information on the game, with fans again asked to follow traffic information, is here in the news in brief.
Show moreAfter three consecutive weeks of playing midweek, the Werkself have been preparing for the top-of-the-table clash against VfB Stuttgart over the past few days. Ahead of the home game on Saturday 27 April (kick-off 18:30 CEST, live on Sky), head coach Xabi Alonso praised the third-placed visitors and gave an update on the state of the pitch as well as personnel.
Show moreThere's no question: VfB Stuttgart are one of the biggest surprises of this season and have delighted their fans with exciting, successful attacking football. After suffering a rare defeat at Bremen last weekend, third-placed VfB are looking to get back to winning ways in this Saturday's big match against the Werkself (kick-off 18:30 CEST). The visitors will be without their playmaker in midfield, though. A look at our next opponents...
Show moreWhether at school, in grassroots sports or at the football stadium – racism and discrimination of all kinds are still prevalent in our society. For this reason, Bayer 04 has been organising preventative school workshops on the subject of racism for many years. This week, one of these workshops took place at the Lise-Meitner-Gymnasium not far from the BayArena as part of the Wiesdorf district matchday - and with a prominent guest: Werkself star Jonathan Tah worked intensively with the pupils on the topic. The German champion and international also spoke about his personal experiences with racism.
Show moreBayer 04 aren’t just the new champions of Germany but are also leading the way in engaging young fans after becoming the first Bundesliga club to release its own Pixi children’s book. Captain Lukas Hradecky and Josip Stanisic presented the 24-page publication entitled ‘Ein neuer Löwe für die Werkself’ (A new lion for the Werkself) at a reading for children in the BayArena's Schwadbud.
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