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.
Bayern Munich come to the BayArena this Saturday with an 11-point lead in the Bundesliga as they look to take a step closer to the title. As imperious as they may seem, a weakness has emerged of late that the Werkself proved they can exploit in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the Champions League. Leverkusen are also looking to make it four Bundesliga home games unbeaten against the Bavarians. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the 15:30 CET kick-off in our matchday news.
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Another home game, another top opponent - another marker? Three days after their convincing performance in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg, Bayer 04 continue their Bundesliga campaign with an equally high-calibre fixture. Matchday 26 sees league leaders Bayern Munich visit the sold-out BayArena. Ahead of the clash, head coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about a comparison between Arsenal and the Bavarians, Bayern's high-scoring performance in Europe's premier club competition and a return to the squad for one Werkself player.
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High spirits and previously untold stories: Around 100 Bayer 04 fans packed the Schwadbud fan pub in the east stand of the BayArena on Thursday evening to be there in person for the first instalment of the new series of events entitled “Rudi lädt ein” (Rudi invites you). They listened intently as long-serving Werkself players Gonzalo Castro and Stefan Kießling chatted with record appearance-maker Rüdiger Vollborn and presenter and stadium announcer Tobias Ufer about their many years together at the club, shared amusing anecdotes and revealed dressing room secrets. Anyone who missed the premiere can already look forward to the second instalment – on 12 May, Rudi will be testing the expert knowledge of Bayer 04 fans during a quiz night.
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The Bundesliga home game against VfL Wolfsburg in the first half of the season was one of those classic ‘days to forget’ for Bayer 04 Women. It started with goalkeeper Charlotte Voll being shown a red card in the first minute of the game, and following a further sending-off, coach Roberto Pätzold's 9-women side ended up losing 5-1 to last season's runners-up. At 18.30 CET on Sunday, they'll have the chance to exact revenge at the AOK Stadium - and pick up valuable points in the race for third place.
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They're well on their way to becoming German champions for the 35th time and once again proved their incredible class in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday. This Saturday, 14 March (kick-off: 15.30 CET), Bayern Munich will be the visitors to the BayArena. It'll be a meeting of the two Bundesliga teams with the most dominant styles of play. A look at our opponents shows the visitors from the Bavarian capital have many strengths - but are also vulnerable.
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