In between the Bundesliga and Europa League – on Monday evening 19 October, Simon Rolfes will be fielding questions on ’100% Bundesliga’ broadcast on RTL Nitro. From 22.15 CEST, the presenters Laura Wontorra and Thomas Wagner plus pundit Steffen Freund will be talking to Rolfes about the start of the new season and the forthcoming Europa League game against Nice to be played at the BayArena on Thursday 22 October (kick-off: 18.55 CEST).
Only having signed for Bayer 04 from Portuguese club Vitória Guimarães in the winter, Edmond Tapsoba has quickly settled in alongside Sven Bender and is now a reliable player in central defence. In the 1-0 win at Mainz, the 21-year-old Burkina Faso international frustrated a number of attacks by Mainz 05. That was recognised by the tabloid newspaper Bild as he was named in their Team of the Day. That is the first nomination by the paper for the 1.94 m tall this season.
The final squad is known, the final team photo was taken on Sunday afternoon. At the end of the week, there was a PR and partners day on the agenda for the Werkself the day after the win at Mainz. Following the regeneration session – as usual there was also training for players who did not take part in the game – Charles Aránguiz and Co. took up their positions for the team photo.
That also included Patrik Schick, who signed for Bayer 04 from AS Roma at the start of September. Santiago Arias, on loan from Atlético Madrid, missed the photo call due to his operation in Madrid. The 28-year-old suffered a broken leg and ligament damage to his ankle playing for Colombia. Tin Jedvaj missed out due to illness.
The Slovakia Football Association have parted company with national coach Pavel Hapal four weeks before the crucial European Championship play-off match against Northern Ireland. The former player, at Leverkusen from 1992 to 1995 (86 Bundesliga appearances), had been the Slovakia coach since 2018.
A trio as potential hosts: The DFB is applying with Holland and Belgium to stage the women’s 2027 World Cup. The motto for the three neighbouring states: ‘Three nations. One target.’
“We know how high the hurdles are before you can achieve approval to stage a tournament like that. Our organisational experience, the strength of our new DFB and the prospect of international cooperation makes us look optimistically to the future,” said DFB president Fritz Keller. Germany staged the Women’s World Cup for the first time in 2011. Leverkusen was a venue back then. Three group matches and the quarter-final between England and France were played at the BayArena.
Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
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Bayer 04 Women finish 2025 with the first game of the second half of the Google Pixel Bundesliga season as they host defending champions and league leaders Bayern Munich at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Monday. Kick-off is at 18:00 CET. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the Matchday 14 encounter.
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The Werkself may have the festive season off, but four players will still be in action as they compete at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations. Eliesse Ben Seghir will open the 35th edition of the tournament with hosts Morocco on Sunday, 21 December. Edmond Tapsoba (Burkina Faso), Ibrahim Maza (Algeria) and Christian Kofane (Cameroon) are also going for continental glory.
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The media wanted to know if Malik Tillman had thought back in September and the team’s indifferent start to the season that they would go into the winter break in third place with 29 points from 15 games. His answer was short and clear: “Honestly, yes, because I simply believe in this team.” That team had just won 3-1 at RB Leipzig, who hadn’t dropped a single point at home previously this season. Here’s all the round-up from the game in our Werkself Review.
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