Kai Havertz and Jonathan Tah are back in the Germany squad. Talking at an online press conference, the Germany coach Joachim Löw announced his squad on Tuesday for Germany's Nations League games on 3 September (20.45 CET) against Spain in Stuttgart and on 6 September (20.45 CET) against Switzerland in Basel. The two internationals in September will be played behind closed doors.
The Austria Football Association announced their squad on Tuesday as well. Julian Baumgartlinger and Aleksandar Dragovic are included for the two forthcoming internationals against Norway (4 September) and Romania (7 September). Florian Wirtz was called up to the Germany U21 squad for the first time last week. The Germany youngsters play Moldova on 3 September and Belgium on 8 September. Wirtz will meet up with his new teammate Lennart Grill who signed for Bayer 04 from Kaiserslautern in the summer.
Tin Jedvaj and his Croatia teammates face two real clashes in the Nations League. That starts with the game against Portugal in Porto on 5 September and three days later there is the match in Paris against World Cup winners France (both kick-offs at 20.45 CET). Like Wirtz and Grill, Moussa Diaby with France and Panos Retsos with Greece are also set to play in European championship qualifiers with their U21 teams. Whether Lukas Hradecky and Joel Pohjanpalo play for Finland will become clear over the course of the week.
FIFA have relaxed the release obligations on clubs regarding international payers due to the coronavirus pandemic for the internationals in September (31 August to 8 September for the men and 14 to 22 September for the women). FIFA is reacting to the travel restrictions in Europe. Clubs are no longer obliged to release players under certain conditions – such as quarantine or self isolation measures of at least five days or complications arising through travel restrictions.
The streaming service DAZN and Amazon Prime will broadcast the Friday and Monday games in the forthcoming 2020/21 season plus five Sunday matches in the Bundesliga. The package also includes four play-off matches and the Supercup. The broadcasting rights were still unclear last season. Eurosport did buy the rights for another season but cancelled with the DFL due to the coronavirus pandemic. The DFL then reached agreement with DAZN. The rights are again with Eurosport for the coming season but they have been passed on via licences to the two streaming portals.
In our new YouTube format of "Ready, Steady, Go", Werkself players are given the beginning of sentences. Their job is then to complete the sentences. First up is Kevin Volland. As usual, fun and laughter are guaranteed. Click HERE for the video.
Freiburg’s defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt last weekend left them two places but a whole 10 points behind Bayer 04. Their results in general may be mixed, but Julian Schuster’s side are a force to be reckoned with at home, where they have earned 24 of their 33 points. Leverkusen may choose to look for the aerial route if they’re to get the better of their hosts, who have conceded more headed goals than any other team. Here’s all you need to know ahead of Saturday afternoon’s game in our matchday news.
Show more
A boost for the second Bundesliga away game in a row: The Werkself take on SC Freiburg just three days after the convincing 1-0 win at Hamburger SV. Ahead of the game on Saturday, 7 March (kick-off: 15:30 CET), head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about the lessons learned from the rearranged fixture at HSV, a trio on yellow cards and young players like Christian Kofane and Montrell Culbreath.
Show more
SC Freiburg suffered their eighth away defeat of the season in Frankfurt last weekend. But at home, at the Europa Park Stadion, coach Julian Schuster's team are clocking up one win after the next. SCF are unbeaten in the last 16 matches at home. On Saturday, 7 March (kick-off: 15:30 CET), they will be looking to keep the run going in the clash with the Werkself. The lowdown on our next opponents.
Show more
For the third time in a row, the Leverkusen eSports players have made it through to the final round of the VBL Club Championship. From 7 to 8 March, they will compete for the German Club Championship at XPERION in Hamburg. At the start of the final round, they face Hamburger SV in the Round of 16. The match starts at 19:30 CET on Saturday, 7 March and will be broadcast live on the VBL Twitch channel. The eSports preview.
Show more
