Germany's second group match in the World Cup against Spain kicks off at 20.0 CET on Sunday with the live broadcast from the ZDF World Cup studio in Mainz starting one hour before kick-off. Fernando Carro will join presenter Jochen Breyer and the two 2014 World Cup winners Per Mertesacker and Christoph Kramer before and after the game as well as during the half-time break as a pundit.
To mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, significant buildings and landmarks all over the world will be lit up in orange today 25 November as part of the Orange your City campaign. Bayer 04 is also joining in with this campaign and the BayArena will be illuminated orange this evening to make a statement against sexualised violence, its causes and its effects.
Bayer 04 head coach Xabi Alonso today celebrates his 41st birthday. The former midfield maestro won the Champions League as a player with Liverpool in 2005 and Real Madrid in 2014. In addition, the Spaniard crowned his playing career by winning the 2008 and 2012 European Championships as well as the World Cup in 2010. Alonso has been in the Werkself dugout since the start of October having previously worked in the youth section at Real Madrid and also as the second team assistant coach at Real Sociedad. Many happy returns, coach!
The Bayer 04 women’s team secured a win in the friendly during the international break. Without a total of eight international players, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team defeated Bundesliga 2 side Borussia Mönchengladbach 3–1 at the Kurtekotten Training Centre, thanks to goals from Lobke Loonen (1’, penalty), Caroline Kehrer (41') and Valentina Mädl (66').
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Bayer 04 will have to manage without striker Christian Kofane in the coming weeks. The 20-year-old sustained a muscle injury to his left thigh on international duty with the Cameroon national team during the recent international break. This will prevent him from playing in the upcoming Werkself matches.
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FSV Mainz 05 went into the international break on the back of an away win at Borussia Mönchengladbach. Currently sixth in the table, the Rheinhessen side – who have been impressive on the road – now aim to continue their good start to the Bundesliga campaign at home when they face the Werkself on Saturday, 10 October (kick-off: 15:30 CEST). In terms of squad selection, Urs Fischer once again has more options at his disposal. Up front, the Mainz coach is likely to continue relying on what is currently the league’s most successful strike partnership. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Exciting experiences and exclusive insights into the Werkself and the BayArena awaited the young footballers from the BA04 Football Academy Guangzhou in China during their visit to the Rhineland this week. As well as taking part in a joint training session with the Bayer 04 Football Academy, the youngsters marvelled at the Bundesliga club’s stadium during a guided tour. The highlight of the visit was a private press conference with former Bayer 04 striker Stefan Kießling, during which he shared tips from his own career with the young players. On Saturday afternoon, 10 October, the group will round off their visit by supporting the Werkself in the away match in Mainz.
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Fans ask, Carolin Simon answers: As part of Bayer 04’s second Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit, the Leverkusen captain took questions from the community. The full-back, who returned to the club this summer after ten years away, set aside an hour and a half for the Q&A session with fans, offering a very personal insight into, amongst other things, her daily life as a footballer and her role as captain, as well as her passion for Pokémon.
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