For Julian Brandt, who played just under 70 minutes in the friendly against Austria on Saturday, it will be his first big, international tournament after he failed to make the final squad for Euro 2016. Last summer, the 22-year-old was part of the 'Mannschaft' that won the Confederations Cup in Russia. Löw said the Werkself number 10 had shown "good potential" and "also worked well here at the training camp." The offensive midfielder will wear the number 20 shirt at the World Cup in Russia – as he will in Germany's final friendly against Saudi Arabia at the BayArena on Friday (8 June, 19.30 CET).
Not included in the 23-man squad – consisting of three goalkeepers and 20 outfield players – are Leroy Sané (Manchester City) and Nils Petersen (SC Freiburg) plus the other two Werkself players Jonathan Tah and Bernd Leno. "There are certainly better days in the life of the national coach than having to send home four great players who deserve to be at the World Cup. We are, and remain, confident of their ability and quality. I've spoken to the four players and they're very, very disappointed. It wasn't an easy decision for us to make," read the statement from Germany coach Joachim Löw.
"Both Kevin Trapp and Bernd Leno are good goalkeepers. We opted for Bernd in the Euros and this time for Kevin. Both are at the same high level," said Löw in explaining his choice of third goalkeeper after the return of captain Manuel Neuer in time following a long injury lay-off to be first choice ahead of Marc-André ter Stegen (Barcelona). The World Cup winner of 2014 showed sympathy for the Werkself number one: "Above all, I'm sorry for Bernd that he has to leave now. We all know he's a brilliant keeper," said Neuer.
Most experts predicted in recent days that Jonathan Tah would not be in the final squad – and the Germany coach echoed that on Monday: "He was a bit of back-up for Jérôme Boateng but he has progressed well in his time with us. He's had a good season. He's a player for the future as he's a great talent. Like Nils Petersen and Leroy Sané, he'll be back in September as it's well worth carrying on working with these players."
In the previous game against RB Leipzig in December last year, the Werkself turned came from behind to win 3-1 and further improved Leverkusen's already strong record against the Red Bulls. Montrell Culbreath stood out with his first goal on his debut for the Black and Reds. While the 18-year-old would certainly like to score a second goal against Leipzig on Saturday night, the attack-minded visitors come to the BayArena in confident mood after five Bundesliga victories in a row. The Nordkurve12 supporters group knows the Werkself will therefore once again be reliant on the vociferous support of the fans, and has once again called for the ‘Finally Red’ campaign in the run-in. Today’s matchday news.
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Video games manufacturer Electronic Arts (EA), together with the German Football League (DFL), announced the top male and female selections for the 2025/26 Bundesliga season this week. Bayer 04 striker Vanessa Fudalla is in the starting eleven of the women's "Team of the Season". Alejandro Grimaldo and Aleix Garcia have been selected as bench players in the men's team.
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This special event showed once again how strong Bayer 04 are as a team: As part of ‘BarmeniaGothaer gives joy’, the Werkself players Edmond Tapsoba, Ibrahim Maza and Christian Kofane supported the sale of individually designed T-shirts for a good cause at the Fanwelt on Thursday. Several hundred fans came to take part in the charity campaign. Leverkusen's main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer donated the proceeds to the Fondation Edmond Tapsoba, which helps people in Tapsoba's home country of Burkina Faso in their challenging everyday lives.
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With three games to play before the end of the season, the Bayer 04 Women can break one record and equal another at SGS Essen. After three wins on the bounce, coach Roberto Pätzold's team are aiming to maintain the chance of third place in Sunday’s away game (14:00 CEST, Stadion an der Hafenstraße).
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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