
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

In their third friendly of this pre-season, Bayer 04 played on home soil for the first time – and won there too! The Werkself claimed a comfortable 4-0 victory against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion. Jeanuel Belocian (9’) and Nathan Tella (42’) gave a dominant Leverkusen a 2-0 lead at the break, which Afonso Moreira (51’) and Christian Kofane (53’) doubled after the break. Among the many second-half substitutions was Patrik Schick, who made his first friendly appearance of the summer.
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The Werkself are finally back. On Saturday 8 August, Bayer 04 kick off the 2026/27 campaign with their opening match. But there’s far more than just a double-header in store for Werkself supporters. True to the motto ‘One day. Two teams. One club’, the BayArena and the Ulrich Haberland Stadium will be transformed into a world of excitement.
Show moreThe Werkself continue their 2026/27 pre-season preparations with their third friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Wednesday 29 July (kick-off 15:00 CEST). Werkself-TV is broadcasting the match live and in full in a stream from 14:50 CEST...

After the children from the Bayer 04 Football Academy grilled Janis Blaswich and Simeon Rapsch last week, another group of 20 young Werkself fans gathered at the BayArena press conference room on Tuesday afternoon, 28 July . This time, the kids directed their questions at Tim Oermann and Jonah Berghoff. Defender Oermann raved about his school days, whilst talented midfielder Berghoff revealed to the young footballers, amongst other things, who his favourite player is – and he is also at Bayer 04. To round things off, the pair naturally obliged with all requests for autographs and selfies.
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Bayer 04 are back on the pitch. Following the first training sessions, the Werkself play the first pre-season friendly on Saturday, July 18. The match against Oberliga club Sportfreunde Baumberg kicks off at 15:30 CEST in Monheim am Rhein. Fans unable to attend the match can watch head coach Carles Martínez’s first game in charge for free via a livestream at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app, as well as on Werkself.tv (exclusively for members). Just log on and watch the games live. All the other Werkself preseason friendlies leading up to the 2026/27 season will also be streamed live for free.
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