
The three Confed Cup winners Julian Brandt, Benjamin Henrichs and Bernd Leno are in the Germany squad for the World Cup qualifiers for the 2018 tournament in Russia with matches against the Czech Republic (1 September in Prague, 20.45 CET live on RTL) and Norway (4 September in Stuttgart, 20.45 CET live on RTL). Löw announced his squad on Friday.
17 of the Confed Cup winners are in the 24-strong Germany squad. They are joined by established players who were rested for the tournament in Russia. In Group C of the World Cup qualifiers, Germany are clearly ahead of Northern Ireland with six victories so far.
Jonathan Tah has been called up to the U21 squad - the Germany team under coach Stefan Kuntz have a friendly against Hungary on 1 September before the European Championship qualifier against Kosovo four days later. Earlier in the week it was announced that Atakan Akkaynak, Kai Havertz and Sam Schreck have been called up by Germany coach Meikel Schönweitz for the U19 international fixtures in Switzerland (31 August) and in England (5 September).
Bayer 04 head coach Heiko Herrlich will also have to make do without six other players during the international break: Julian Baumgartlinger and Aleksandar Dragovic (both Austria), Admir Mehmedi (Switzerland), Kevin Kampl (Slovenia), Joel Pohjanpalo (Finland) plus Charles Aránguiz (Chile) have also been called up for international duty.

Bayer 04 Leverkusen have appointed Carles Martínez Novell as the new head coach. The 42-year-old Spaniard worked for FC Toulouse in the French Ligue 1 until the end of the season. Martínez finished last term in ninth place with the club from the south of France. He will take over the Werkself on 1 July 2026 and has signed a contract to 30 June 2028. Martínez, whose contract with Toulouse expires at the end of the month, succeeds Kasper Hjulmand at Leverkusen, who is leaving the club after one season.
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Welcome to Leverkusen, Carles Martínez Novell. Bayer 04 have appointed the 42-year-old Spaniard as the new head coach on a contract to 2028. Martínez most recently worked for FC Toulouse in the French Ligue 1 until the end of the season. He previously spent four years at Barcelona's legendary academy La Masia in his home city. Bayer04.de introduces Martínez in more detail.
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Bayer 04 plans for the 2026/27 pre-season continue to take shape. The Werkself will kick off the new season in mid-July with the return to the training ground. The highlight will be the official season opener on 8 August at the BayArena, including a friendly against La Liga club Sevilla. Friendlies in Germany will take the team to neighbouring Monheim, Offenbach and Jena.
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Strengthening the Bayer 04 Leverkusen youth teams: Konstantinos Kotsifakis will join the Werkself from Bundesliga 2 club Hertha Berlin for the 2026/27 season, where he will be a permanent member of the Leverkusen U19 coaching set-up. The German-Greek will also take on an operational role in coaching the Bayer 04 Future Team. The 29-year-old was most recently head coach of the U17s at Hertha Berlin.
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Another award for the Bayer 04 head groundsman and staff: After coming top in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, the BayArena pitch came second in the Bundesliga Pitch of the Year ranking for the 2025/26 season. VfL Wolfsburg secured the top spot this year, with TSG Hoffenheim in third place.
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