
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.

The Werkself welcome FC Augsburg to the BayArena on Bundesliga matchday 30 in the 2025/26 season. The match on Saturday, 18 April kicks off at 15:30 CEST. Bayer 04 have organised a family matchday with exclusive offers for parents and children. Information on ticket sales.
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The Werkself host VfL Wolfsburg at the BayArena on matchday 28 in the 2025/26 Bundesliga season. The match is on Saturday, 4 April, with the kick-off at 15:30 CET. Information on ticket sales.
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It was the end of the road for the #B04eSports team against SC Freiburg. Marc and Sean Landwehr were narrowly defeated by the top favourites in the quarter-finals of the VBL Club Championship Final 2025/26. After a success in the first 1v1 game (4-2) and a subsequent defeat (0-4), the overall goals tally ultimately decided who progressed to the semi-finals in the clash against the league leaders from the previous phase.
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There was end-to-end action with both teams giving nothing away in Bayer 04's 3-3 draw at SC Freiburg that was a great advert for Bundesliga football. However, Leverkusen were by no means satisfied with the result after the hosts equalised late on. The Werkself review provides the latest information on the intense clash in Freiburg.
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