
Happy Birthday Mitch. The Dutchman celebrates his 22nd birthday on this Monday 20 June. The defender is currently on holiday after appearing for the Netherlands U21 team that sealed qualification for the European Championships.
Bakker joined Bayer 04 from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2020. The left-back grew up just outside Amsterdam and he joined the renowned Ajax academy at the age of ten. He played for all the youth teams before signing for PSG for the 2019/20 season. He made 30 appearances, scored one goal and provided five assists for Bayer 04 last term.
A great honour: Piero Hincapie has been nominated for the Golden Boy Award 2022. The Werkself defender is one of 22 Bundesliga players selected as candidates for the award. The Werkself number 33 joins last season’s second and third-placed players Jude Bellingham and Jamal Musiala from the German league. Bayer 04 new signing Adam Hlozek is also on the list.
The Italian sports journal Tuttosport has published a list of Europe’s 100 best U21 players in the middle of June since 2003. This is reduced by 20 players a month until there are 20 in the middle of October. The final assessment is made by 40 journalists from different countries.
The Ecuadorian is currently leading on 57 per cent. Black and Red supporters can vote for Hincapie HERE.
Don’t forget: The Black and Reds, in partnership with JAKO, launched a recycling campaign on Friday 17 June. Old football shirts, regardless of type, can be dropped off at the Bayer 04 fan shop in Wiesdorf up to Friday 24 June. As a thank you, all participants will receive a 25% discount voucher for the JAKO online store. Under the heading ‘Recycled Polyester’, the focus is on sustainable recycling management in textile production.
JAKO will deliver the recycled clothing to a start-up business in Aachen, which produces new textile granulate using a new recycling process and thereby creates the basis for new sportswear.
Rudi Völler was on the Bild live stream programme ‘Lage der Liga’ on Sunday morning (19 June). In a one-hour broadcast, the 62-year-old talked about a possible move by Mario Götze to Eintracht Frankfurt as well as Bayern Munich and the transfer rumours surrounding Robert Lewandowski.
The broadcast is available in full HERE.

The next match in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga has been scheduled: The Werkself will play their Matchday 11 game on a Saturday afternoon. This was announced by the German Football Association (DFB) on Wednesday afternoon.
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The Bayer 04 eSports players have completed the online preliminary round of the first showdown of the VBL Club Championship 2025/26 and are now in eleventh place in the overall table with twelve points. The Leverkusen team are through to the offline round of showdown one.
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Yesterday, Tuesday 21 October, the Leverkusen gamers hosted the eSports players of the reigning champions of the UEFA Champions League as part of the UEFA Champions League home match between the Werkself and Paris Saint-Germain. Like the #B04eSports team in the VBL Club Championship, PSG finished runners-up in the eLigue 1 Championship last season.
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The Werkself lost 7-2 against reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain on Matchday 3 of the league phase in the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League campaign. Willian Pacho put the visitors ahead in a dramatic first half (7'). Robert Andrich was shown the red card, but Illia Zabarnyi was also sent off for PSG. Head coach Kasper Hjulmand's team then showed their fighting spirit. Aleix Garcia equalised with a penalty to make it 1-1 (38'). PSG then turned the game round with goals from Désiré Doué (42’, 45+3’) and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (44). Further goals in the second half were scored by Nuno Mendes (50'), Aleix Garcia (54'), Ousmane Dembélé (66') and Vitinha (90'). The final scoreline was 7-2.
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