Finland with goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky played Bosnia and Herzegovina on the first matchday in Group 3 of the Nations League League B. In the capital Helsinki, star striker Teemu Pukki opened the scoring from the penalty spot just before half-time, Bosnia's Smail Prevljak equalised in added time in the second half with the game ending in a 1-1 draw.
The North European side now play the other group opponents Montenegro (7 June) and Romania (11 June); and the return match against Bosnia-Herzegovina is also in the current run of international fixtures (14 June).
Germany started the new season in the Nations League with an absolute classic fixture: The team under coach Hansi Flick faced Italy in Bergamo. The game remained goalless for a long time. Lorenzo Pellegrini (AS Roma) gave the Squadra Azzura the lead on 70 minutes but Bayern Munich's Joshua Kimmich levelled just three minutes later. The big match ended in a draw after 90 minutes with Werkself defender Jonathan Tah watching the game from the bench.
Germany have the next crunch encounter on Tuesday night (7 June): England are the visitors in Munich. That is followed by matches against Hungary (11 June) and Italy again on 14 June.
The next games involving Black and Red players are for Argentina with Exequiel Palacios and Ecuador with Piero Hincapie. Pala and Co. play a friendly against Estonia tonight (Sunday) with the kick off at 20.00 CEST in the Spanish city of Pamplona. Ecuador are also set to play a friendly: They face Mexico overnight from Sunday to Monday with the kick off at 01.30 CEST.
REMAINING INTERNATIONAL FIXTURES:
Jonathan Tah – Germany
7 June, 20:45 CEST: Germany vs England (UEFA Nations League)
11 June, 20.45 CEST: Hungary vs Germany (UEFA Nations League)
14 June, 20.45 CEST: Germany vs Italy (UEFA Nations League)
Lukas Hradecky – Finland
7 June, 18.00 CEST: Finland vs Montenegro (UEFA Nations League)
11 June, 20.45 CEST: Romania vs Finland (UEFA Nations League)
14 June, 20.45 CEST: Bosnia & Herzegovina vs Finland (UEFA Nations League)
Moussa Diaby – France
6 June, 20.45 CEST: Croatia vs France (UEFA Nations League)
10 June, 20.45 CEST: Austria vs France (UEFA Nations League)
13 June, 20.45 CEST: France vs Croatia (UEFA Nations League)
Exequiel Palacios – Argentina
5 June, 20.00 CEST: Argentina vs Estonia (Friendly)
Piero Hincapie – Ecuador
6 June, 01.30 CEST: Mexico vs Ecuador (Friendly)
12 June, 23.30 CEST: Ecuador vs Cape Verde (Friendly)
Edmond Tapsoba – Burkina Faso
7 June, 15.00 CEST: Eswatini vs Burkina Faso (AFCON qualifier)
Odilon Kossounou – Ivory Coast
9 June, 21.00 CEST: Lesotho vs Ivory Coast (AFCON qualifier)
Mitchel Bakker – Netherlands U21
7 June, 20.00 CEST: Netherlands U21 vs Gibraltar U21 (Euro qualifier)
11 June, 18.00 CEST: Wales U21 vs Netherlands U21 (Euro qualifier)
The Golden Boy Top 100 traditionally lists Europe’s most promising young players. In the latest update, published to mark the start of the new season, four current Werkself players – alongside loanee Francis Onyeka – feature on the list. This means Bayer 04 have the most players in contention of any Bundesliga club.
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Ten years after retiring as a player, Kristina Sundov is returning to the Bayer 04 Women’s team as assistant coach. The 39-year-old former Croatia international takes over from Remzi Kahraman, who has taken up a new challenge abroad. She has been given a contract to 30 June 2028.
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The training pitches at the BayArena are already buzzing with activity again, even before training officially begins next week. On Monday morning, a small group from the Werkself first-team squad completed a session lasting around an hour. Both new and familiar faces were present.
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