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 have reached at least the semi-finals of the DFB Pokal in each of the last three years. The Black-and-Reds would like to make it to the final four of the competition again this season, but to do that they'll need to overcome 1. FC Nürnberg in round two, who travel to the BayArena with momentum following a successful league campaign so far. However, Bayer have a 100 percent record at home in all competitions this season - and have also won six of their last seven home matches in the Pokal. The Matchday News.
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Back at home in the second round of the 2026/27 DFB Pokal, Bayer 04 host FC Nürnberg at the BayArena. The match against the current second-placed side in Bundesliga 2 is on Wednesday 28 October at 20:45 CET. Ahead of the game, head coach Carles Martínez spoke, amongst other things, about his anticipation of the clash in front of a home crowd. The Spaniard also commented on a number of personnel matters, including Ibrahim Maza and Montrell Culbreath, plus the visitors’ coach, Miroslav Klose.
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Now in their third season under head coach Miroslav Klose, FC Nürnberg are among the promotion contenders in Bundesliga 2. On Wednesday 28 October (kick-off: 20:45 CET), the team currently second in the table are away to Bayer 04 in the second round of the DFB Pokal. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Werkself player Ibrahim Maza has been named in the top ten in the ‘Men’s Young Talent of the Year’ category for 2026. The 20-year-old was at the London Palladium on Monday evening for the 2026 Ballon d’Or awards ceremony. Fernando Carro, Bayer 04 CEO, also attended the ceremony. Lamine Yamal of Barcelona was named the winner in the ‘Men’s Young Talent of the Year’ category.
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Bayer 04 will have to manage without forward Moussa Diaby for their upcoming matches. The 27-year-old Frenchman sustained a thigh injury in the 3-0 defeat against TSG Hoffenheim yesterday afternoon, Sunday 25 October. Diaby is expected to be available again after the international break in November.
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