It was a final for German football history books. For the third time, following on from 2009 and 2017, the Germany U21 team with Bayer 04 youngsters Florian Wirtz and Lennart Grill won the European Championship title with a 1-0 victory against favourites Portugal. It proved to be a big attraction for the TV audience in Germany: 5.36 million Germans watched the second half of the final.
There will also have been satisfaction due to our number 27 with the publication of the results of the annual kicker players questionnaire. While Robert Lewandowski was the clear winner as the best outfield player of the season in 2020/21, Florian Wirtz was just behind Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich) in second place in the vote for the Newcomer of the Year. 248 Bundesliga players took part in the questionnaire. Congratulations, Florian!
From the present to the past: 38 years ago today, a Bayer 04 player was called up to the national team for the first time and he secured a historical achievement from a Werkself perspective. On 7 June 1983, the then Germany coach Jupp Derwall brought on the 19-year-old Herbert Waas in place of Hansi Mueller in a friendly against Yugoslavia and thereby ensured the first international appearance for Germany by a Black and Red player.
Waas won eleven international caps scoring one goal and providing two assists. He played for the Werkself from 1982 to 1990 (84 goals, 7 assists).
The USA have won their first title in the CONCACAF Nations League. In the equivalent of the European UEFA Nations League, the Americans beat their rivals from Mexico in the final 3-2 after extra time. The winner was scored by Christian Pulisic, the Chelsea teammate of former Bayer 04 player Kai Havertz, on 114 minutes. For Mexico, the former Leverkusen player Andres Guardado missed the chance to level from the penalty spot (120+4'). Another former Werkself player Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernández, who is the record scorer for Mexico with 52 goals, was not in the team as he has not played for El Tri since September 2019.
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-3 loss against Werder Bremen on the 26th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have agreed a conract extension with home-grown talent Sofie Zdebel by a further year ahead of schedule. The 21-year-old Germany U23 international will stay at the club until 30 June 2028.
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Jonas Omlin was given an official send-off ahead of the final Bundesliga game of the season at home to Hamburg. The 32-year-old Swiss goalkeeper joined the Werkself on loan for the second half of the campaign from Borussia Mönchengladbach in the winter.
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Bayer 04 and main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer have shown great commitment to the community as the sale of custom-designed T-shirts for charity in the Fanwelt as part of the “BarmeniaGothaer Brings Joy campaign raised a good €5,000. Bayer 04 matched this sum with an equal contribution. As a result, a total of €10,000 was presented to Edmond Tapsoba for his foundation ahead of the home match against Hamburg. The foundation supports people facing challenging daily circumstances in his home country of Burkina Faso.
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