He knows what makes the Black and Yellows tick: Kerem Demirbay, under the Bayer Cross for two years, spent most of his youth career at BVB. Ahead of the top match between the Werkself and Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, 11 September (kick-off: 15.30 CEST), the 28-year-old also talked about which game for BVB he remembers best. What Demirbay expects from the visitors and what his targets are for the game at the BayArena, can be found on the brand new Bayer 04 app. You can download it HERE.
Like several of their teammates at the start of the week, Florian Wirtz and Panos Retsos have ended their international duty. Youngster Wirtz played for Germany against Iceland. The team under head coach Hansi Flick mastered their challenge comfortably with a 4-0 win.
The visitors, with Bayer 04 homegrown talent Kai Havertz (now at Chelsea) coming on at the start of the second half, did not concede for the third game in succession. The 18-year-old Wirtz again came off the bench, as in the previous two games, this time replacing Leon Goretzka on 80 minutes.
Like Germany, Greece were winners in the third and final game in the current international break. The match in Athens against Sweden ended in a 2-1 victory. Werkself central defender Panos Retsos was on the subs bench for the full 90 minutes.
Three Black and Red players are in action in the early hours of Friday morning and that marks the end of the international break from a Bayer 04 perspective – all in the South American World Cup qualifiers. At 0.30 CEST, Ecuador with Werkself new signing Piero Hincapie are away to Uruguay, and Charles Aránguiz and Chile face Colombia half an hour later. From 1.30 CEST, Argentina with Exequiel Palacios have a home game in Buenos Aires against Bolivia. Good luck, lads!
Oliver Kahn, the CEO at Bayern Munich, will represent the champions of Germany on the board of the European Club Association. The 52-year-old will succeed Michael Gerlinger (Legal director at FC Bayern) in November. Kahn will join Fernando Carro, the Bayer 04 CEO, on the ECA board. The third Bundesliga representative on the board is Hans-Joachim Watzke of Borussia Dortmund.
These numbers inspire confidence of full stadiums in the Bundesliga again soon: Just 0.000006 per cent of football fans have tested positive for Covid-19 since the return of crowds at games. In 73 games with more than 900,000 tickets sold in the Bundesliga, the second division and the Supercup there were only six cases of coronavirus from contract tracing. In addition: None of the clubs are aware of any of the six people infecting others at a stadium.
“Although he plays for our rivals Leverkusen, somebody like Moussa Diaby creates great joy with his play.” These words were chosen by Max Eberl, sporting director at Borussia Mönchengladbach, in a recent interview with Sport Bild in response to the question of which Bundesliga players excite him at the moment.”
In the clash with Eberl’s Foals (4-0), the 22-year-old, who was recently called up to the France squad for the first time, scored the third goal. Diaby has scored two goals and provided one assist in the first three matchdays.
Less than a year ago, Kerim Alajbegovic moved from the Bayer 04 U19s to Austrian top-flight club FC Red Bull Salzburg. The forward’s development since then has been impressive. In 36 matches, including in the UEFA Europa League, the 18-year-old has scored 14 goals. In the summer, Alajbegovic, now a Bosnia international, will return to Leverkusen - and thus not only achieve the next milestone still early in his career, but also enrich the Werkself squad with his footballing versatility and determination.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have extended the contract with forward Nathan Tella ahead of schedule. The versatile 26-year-old, who can be deployed as a right winger, false nine or left winger, has penned a new contract to 30 June 2031. Tella joined the Werkself from Championship club Southampton in 2023. His previous contract ran to the summer of 2028.
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Nathan Tella has extended his contract with Bayer 04 to 2031. In an interview with Werkself TV, the 26-year-old talks about fulfilling his dreams, his positive outlook on life and his goals for the future. He answers the questions in English - all except the last one, which he addresses directly to the fans...
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In the final international break in the current 2025/26 campaign, Bayer 04 striker Patrik Schick with Czechia will be battling for a place at the World Cup. Meanwhile, national teams that have already qualified, include other Werkself players called up, are involved in friendlies in the build-up to the World Cup. Read on for an overview of the Leverkusen internationals and their match dates.
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The Werkself kicked off the final international break of the current season on Monday morning with the first of three open training sessions this week. While eleven Bayer 04 players will be away on international duty in the coming days, the other players will be working together in Leverkusen. The next challenge in the Bundesliga awaits on Saturday, 4 April (kick-off: 15:30 CEST) with the home game against VfL Wolfsburg.
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