The day of the Northern Ireland match is the anniversary of the debut appearance in the Germany senior team for Kai Havertz (three caps). A year ago, on 9 September 2018, the then 19-year-old was brought on in the 2-1 win against Peru by Germany coach Joachim Löw with two minutes to play. U21 European Championships runner-up Jonathan Tah (six caps) was in the squad then but did not play.
In addition to the Germany duo, 12 other Werkself players are on international duty in the coming week: Julian Baumgartlinger (68 caps) and Aleksandar Dragovic (74 caps) have been selected by Austria head coach and former Bayer 04 player Franco Foda for the two Euro qualifiers against Latvia (6 September) and Poland (9 September). Lukas Hradecky (53 caps) also faces two Euro qualifiers with Finland – the 'Eagle owls' play Greece (5 September) and Italy (8 September).
Lucas Alario (three caps) has been called up by Argentina for the first time in two years. And that is for the two friendlies against Chile (6 September) and Mexico (11 September). That could mean the Werkself number 13 coming up against team-mate Charles Aránguiz (74 caps) who is expected to be in the Chile line-up. In addition to the game against Alario's Argentina (6 September), Chile also play Honduras (11 September).
For Leon Bailey (four caps) and Jamaica there are two matches in the CONCACAF Nations League: The 'Reggae Boyz' play Antigua & Barbuda on 7 September and Guyana on 10 September.
Paulinho (Brazil U23), Moussa Diaby (France U21), Panagiotis Retsos (Greece U21), Adrian Stanilewicz (Poland U20) and the two U19 players Mark Lamti (Tunisia U23) and Marcel Lotka (Poland U19) are on the road with their junior national sides next week.
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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Kasper Hjulmand has led the Werkself back to winning ways and is back in the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League with Bayer 04 after the 3-0 win against Villarreal on Wednesday evening. In an interview with the Werkself magazine at the BayArena in the team meeting room, directly opposite the dressing room, he provided some special insights for the current issue, which was published in January. A conversation with the 53-year-old coach about values, attitudes and personal experiences as well as interests outside of football.
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The thrilling 3-1 win for Bayer 04 against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Hinrunde is a fond memory for Alejandro Grimaldo, with his brace from free kicks, and coach Kasper Hjulmand, who was in the dugout under the Cross for the first time. Now comes the return fixture in the metropolis on the River Main and after going out of the DFB Pokal and the Champions League, the full focus at Eintracht, currently managed by two interim coaches, is now on the Bundesliga. For their part, the Werkself will do everything in their power to continue the longest winning run against a Bundesliga club. The matchday news.
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Bayer 04 have ended Artem Stepanov’s loan deal at Nürnberg and agreed a new loan to Utrecht in the Netherlands. The Ukrainian striker did not play as much as hoped for at the Bundesliga 2 club and will now continue his development in the Eredivisie for the rest of 2025/26.
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The draw for the knockout play-offs of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League was made on Friday, 30 January and saw Bayer 04 paired with Olympiacos. It’s a reunion with the Greek side following the Werkself’s 2-0 loss in Athens on Matchday 7 of the league phase.
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