The maximum return: Piero Hincapie comes back to Leverkusen from his home country of Ecuador with six points from two games. Last week's 1-0 win against Venezuela – Hincapie scored the only goal of the game – was followed overnight to Wednesday by a 2-0 victory over Chile. That means the gap for the third-placed team to the play-off position of fifth is now six points. Only Brazil (35 points) and Argentina (29) are ahead of Ecuador (23).
The clash in Santiago de Chile started positively for Hincapie and Co.: The visitors took the lead after nine minutes and the Chilean former Werkself player Arturo Vidal was shown a red card 15 minutes into the game. It took Ecuador a long time to increase their lead with the goal at 2-0 coming in added time (90+3).
There are four matchdays left in the South American World Cup qualifiers next year and if all goes well then Ecuador could qualify for the World Cup finals for a fourth time.
Argentina with Exequiel Palacios have definitely qualified for the finals in Qatar next year. The Albiceleste earned the crucial point with a goalless draw against Brazil with the Werkself player not appearing in this match. Argentina have a 12-point lead in second place but their opponents are taking points off each other. Congratulations, Pala.
Finland have no chance of playing Argentina and Co. in Qatar. They needed a win against France in group D of the European World Cup qualifiers but ended up with a 2-0 defeat – and Ukraine secured the play-off slot of second. Lukas Hradecky was in the Finnish goal for the full 90 minutes and Moussa Diaby was in the starting line-up for the other side. He was replaced on 57 minutes by Karim Benzema.
Edmond Tapsoba (Burkina Faso) and Odilon Kossounou (Ivory Coast) will also not be at the tournament. Both national teams needed a win in their respective top matches. Tapsoba and Co. ended up with a 2-2 draw against Algeria and the Ivorians with Kossounou suffered a 1-0 defeat against Cameroon. Tapsoba played the full game with his Leverkusen teammate just playing the first half.
Amine Adli experienced a successful end to the final international break of the year. The France U21s secured a 1-0 win against North Macedonia. The Werkself player came off four minutes before the only goal of the game 79 minutes. The Les Bleus youngsters continue in top spot in Group H in the U21 Euro qualifiers.
In Group D, the Dutch U21s clocked up a 7-0 victory over bottom of the table Gibraltar. Jeremie Frimpong remained on the bench. Frimpong and Co. have qualification for the European Championships in their own hands having played one game less and being three points behind but with a significantly better goal difference than the top team from Switzerland.
The Germany U19 team have maintained their lead over Greece: The side including Emrehan Gedikli, who was substituted late on, picked up a point (1-1). They have held on to second spot that would qualify them for the U 19 European Championships and they now have four points from three games.
There was also a draw in the top match in Group 8 – the Belgium and Spain U19s drew 2-2. The 16-year-old Bayer 04 youngster Iker Bravo came off the bench on the hour mark. Bravo and Co. are on course for the European Championships in second place level with group leaders Belgium.
Zidan Sertdemir and the Denmark U19s earned a 1-0 win against Portugal in a friendly. The youngster, who recently made his Bundesliga debut for Bayer 04, played the full 90 minutes.
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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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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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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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A memorable 12 months: 2025 was a year marked by success, intense competition and groundbreaking innovations for the #B04eSports team. After ending the 2024/25 season as runners-up, the Leverkusen-based console pros got down to business in a new, completely restructured season model, in which showdowns rather than divisions were the decisive factor on the road to the final round of the German Club Championship. Bayer 04 quickly earned a place in the history books of the most prestigious competition in German eSports and secured some valuable advantages for the coming year. Bayer04.de takes a look back at 12 months full of passion and the determination to take the next step.
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Sustainability once again had many faces at Bayer 04 in 2025: In community activity, the club supported countless regional campaigns, including the Leverkusener Tafel, the Frauenennotruf Leverkusen e.V. and the homeless aid organisation "Kältegang". But the Black and Reds have also been involved in good causes around the world - including the Young Coaches training programmes in Uganda and Ecuador plus the Genuine World Cup in the USA, where the Inclusion Werkself competed. Bayer 04 was also fully committed to the environment and underwent external and independently certification in accordance with the European environmental management standard EMAS, for example, to analyse and optimise the club’s environmental efforts. Looking back at sustainability in 2025.
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