Thanks to an exemption by the City of Hamburg and the neighbouring local authorities, the four semi-finalists in the Hamburg Association Cup were determined at the weekend. The two North Regional League sides, Eintracht Norderstedt and Jonathan Tah's former club Altona 93 now face each other on Sunday, 16 August. The meeting of the two Oberliga teams SV Rugenbergen and TSV Sasel is an hour later. A limited number of spectators are permitted at both matches.
The winner of the Hamburg Cup final, to be played on 22 August (kick-off: 14.45 CEST) as part of the Amateurs finals day, will be up against Lars Bender and Co. in the first round of the DFB Cup (11 to 14 September).
On 1 August, Bayer 04 released a 50-minute film to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Kai Havertz being at the club. This in-house production includes Germany teammate Tony Kroos, friend and former teammate Julian Brandt, Leverkusen's sporting director Simon Rolfes, head coach Peter Bosz and the two Bayer 04 managing directors Fernando Carro and Rudi Völler looking back at special moments with and by the prodigy. 'Kai – the Havertz Story | 10 years at Bayer 04 Leverkusen’ appears to have gone down well with fans and friends of the beautiful game. The film has had 500,000 hits on the Bayer 04 YouTube channel in less than two weeks.
There are not just impressive numbers on the video platform YouTube. Bayer 04 currently has 996,000 followers on Instagram – the magical million mark should soon be reached. The club from Leverkusen will be the third German team to achieve that number following on from Bayer Munich and Borussia Dortmund.
Until 1970, the German Football Association (DFB) banned women and girls from playing football in Germany. That is now 50 years ago; a lot has changed since then. On Sunday, 16 August (18.30 CEST), the ARD Sportschau is broadcasting a report on that anniversary with the title, ‘Der größte Gegner ist das Klischee – 50 Jahre Frauenfußball’ ('The cliché is the biggest opponent – 50 years of women's football'). Interviewees include Bayer 04 player Jessica Wich (“Women now just want to do that they want and what makes them happy.”) and former Leverkusen player Merle Barth, who signed for Turbine Potsdam in the summer.
Bayer 04 remained unbeaten in the first 14 league games under Klaus Toppmöller, who took over the managerial hot seat at the Werkself in the summer of 2001. The Werkself were even top of the league at the halfway stage but the 2001/02 season ended with three runner’s up spots in the Bundesliga, Champions League and DFB Cup. Toppmöller coached the Black and Reds for 18 months. The Coach of the Year 2002, who last managed in 2008, celebrates his 69th birthday. Bayer 04 wish Klaus many happy returns!
Issa Traoré is moving from Bayer 04 Leverkusen to Slovakian top-flight side AS Trencin. The club has loaned the centre-back out for one year to this year’s ninth-placed team in the Slovakian league.
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Assistant coach Remzi Kahraman is leaving the Bayer 04 Women’s team with immediate effect to take up a new challenge abroad. The club has agreed to the 31-year-old’s request to leave, although his contract was originally due to run until 2027. A decision on his successor will be announced shortly.
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At the U19 European Championship in Wales, the Germany U19 national team lost their third and final group match 4-0 to Spain. Several regulars, including Bayer 04 players Montrell Culbreath and Francis Onyeka (on loan to SV Elversberg), who had combined for four goals and assists in the two previous victories, did not feature,. Germany had already secured their place in the semi-finals with a game to spare.
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Two weeks into the preseason, the Bayer 04 Women have secured their first victory. Coach Roberto Pätzold’s team won their first friendly 2–0 against Bundesliga newcomers Mainz 05. In front of 160 spectators at the Kurtekotten Performance Centre, the two summer signings, Maja Sternad (80’) and Justine Brandau (90’), scored for the Black and Reds.
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