The Germany U21 coach Stefan Kuntz announced his squad for the Euro group stage at the start of the week. The 58-year-old called up another Leverkusen player in addition to goalkeeper Lennart Grill (see report HERE). In the list of offensive players called up there is one Black and Red player missing who was on the pitch for all the recent Germany U21 games: Florian Wirtz.
Following the announcement by Kuntz, the Germany coach Joachim Löw revealed that the 17-year-old Werkself player is intended to join the senior team during the coming international break. "I think you can now say we are planning on both of them joining us," said Löw in an interview with RTL/ntv regarding Wirtz and Bayern Munich's Jamal Musiala (18). Looking forward to the Euros in the summer, it is "good that I can see how they perform in our group for a couple of days and that is perhaps a good indicator in terms of the tournament," said Löw about the two youngsters.
In the next international break at the end of the march, Germany play their World Cup qualifiers against Iceland (25 March/Duisburg), Romania (28 March/Bucharest) and North Macedonia (31 March/Duisburg). Löw will announce the final squad for the three matches on Friday 19 March.
In a good mood and keen to play, Werkself player Paulinho returned to the training ground at the BayArena on Tuesday. The 20-year-old Brazilian took part in sections of full training for the first time since his torn cruciate at the start of July last year. The offensive player is set to increase his workload in the coming days and weeks.
Paulinho was signed from the top-flight Brazilian club Vasco da Gama in the summer of 2018. The midfielder made 19 appearances for the Werkself in 2019/20, scoring three goals and providing two assists along the way.
Professional football has been subjected to a large number of changes since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020. In the current edition of SPORT BILD of 17 March, Dr. Karl-Heinrich Dittmar, medical director and pandemics officer at Bayer 04, discusses the effects of the pandemic on his day-to-day work and the Werkself. In the interview, the 58-year-old provides insights into the coronavirus testing for the Werkself players, contact with 17 health authorities as well as medical checks via video.
Clash with the former club: Hertha Berlin entertain the Werkself at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday 21 March (kick-off: 15.30 CET). A former Leverkusen player will be in the dugout for the host team: Andreas Neuendorf has been working as an assistant to Hertha head coach Pal Dardai since the end of January.
Neuendorf spent part of his career as a professional footballer at Leverkusen. The Berlin-born player joined Bayer 04 from Reinickendorfer Füchse in 1994. In the following three and a half years, the midfielder made 49 Bundesliga appearances for the Werkself. He gained his nickname 'Zecke' (tick) during his time at Leverkusen, which Bayer 04 legend Ulf Kirsten gave him at a training camp due to a tick bite.
After two and a half years as a player with Hertha, Neuendorf returned to Leverkusen for the 2000/01 season before again playing for the Old Lady. In addition to his job as assistant coach to Dardai, he is also on a DFB coaches course.
Admir Mehmedi can look back at an extremely successful season with VfL Wolfsburg to date: The Swiss international and his teammates are in third place after 25 games. Before his time at Wolfsburg the versatile offensive player was at Bayer 04.
Mehmedi joined Leverkusen from Freiburg in the summer of 2015. He went on to play for the Werkself for two and a half years making 62 Bundesliga appearances. The champion of Switzerland from 2009 was 30 on Tuesday: A belated happy birthday.
Who remembers it? Exactly 20 years ago – on 17 March 2001 – the Werkself were away to Borussia Dortmund. On seven minutes, Bernd Schneider received the ball in the centre circle – and he volleyed it over the head of the BVB keeper Jens Lehmann into the back of the Dortmund net. 'Schnix' not only launched a deserved 3-1 win with his opener but he also scored the Goal of the Month for March 2001. HERE is a video of his strike.
After just two points from their last four games, the situation has become trickier for Borussia Mönchengladbach in the bottom third of the table. Only three points separate the Foals from the relegation play-off spot. Coach Eugen Polanski's team is under pressure ahead of the home game against the Werkself on Saturday, 7 February (kick-off: 18:30 CET). The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Calling all eSports fans: On Saturday, 21 February (from 16:00 CET), the Werkself Wildcard Cup will take place at XPERION Köln (Hansaring 97, 50670 Cologne). Interested EA FC 26 amateur players will have the opportunity to win attractive prizes and a place in the VBL Open Play-offs by WOW. The play-offs are the final preliminary stage of the VBL Grand Final by WOW, the tournament for the German individual championship and, alongside the club championship (VBL CC), the most important sub-competition in the German eSports scene. Read on for information on registration.
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At its first general meeting on 5 February 2026 in Frankfurt am Main, the Frauen Bundesliga FBL e.V. made key decisions regarding the future direction of the Women’s Bundesliga. The meeting was based on the results of the negotiations with the German Football Association (DFB) over the past few weeks.
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Another efficient performance from the Werkself in the 3-0 home win against FC St. Pauli saw them reach the semi-finals of the DFB Pokal for the third time in a row, and it was not the only record set on what was a successful evening. It meant head coach Kasper Hjulmand was delighted to "still be in with the chance of winning something". Like the coach, however, the ambitious Edmond Tapsoba also stated that he wanted to keep "improving" bit by bit: "We'll continue to give our all, no matter who we come up against." The Werkself review of the clash.
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