Following on from Brazil's Paulinho, another Werkself player has been selected for the Olympic football tournament. Lucas Alario, who missed the Copa America due to injury, is in the Argentina squad with the matches to be played from 21 July to 7 August in Japan. Have a successful tournament, Lucas!
Chile with Charles Aránguiz and Argentina with Exequiel Palacios are both currently unbeaten and share top spot in Group A at the Copa America. At the South American tournament, the Werkself players were both on the winning side on matchday two. Chile beat Bolivia 1-0 with Aránguiz playing the full 90 minutes. Argentina came out on top with the same scoreline in their game against Uruguay. Palacios replaced Giovanni Lo Celso (Tottenham Hotspur) on 52 minutes and helped to secure the victory.
Chile and Argentina drew 1-1 at the start of the tournament. The Leverkusen duo are in action again in the night from Monday to Tuesday morning: Aránguiz and Chile face the as yet pointless Uruguay (kick-off: 23.00 CEST), Palacios and Argentina play Paraguay (kick-off: 02.00 CEST).
Before that, four of the five Leverkusen players at the Euros will be in action on the last group matchday looking to qualify for the knockout stages. Austria with Aleksandar Dragovic and Julian Baumgartlinger meet Ukraine at 18.00 CEST. A win for Austria would give them six points in second place in Group C and a place in the last 16.
Werkself players Lukas Hradecky and Joel Pohjanpalo are set to be in the Finland line-up in Group B at 21.00 CEST in a game against the unbeaten Belgians. If the Scandinavian Euro debutants win then the Eagle Owls will definitely be in the knockout rounds – with six points Hradecky, Pohjanpalo and Co. will at least be one of the four best third-placed teams, who also qualify for the Round of 16.
The fifth Werkself player at the European Championship, Patrik Schick, could ensure a medium surprise with the Czech Republic by going through to the next round. The team currently number 40 in the world rankings are leading Group D with four points from two games. The Czech Republic finish the group stage on Tuesday, 22 June (kick-off: 21.00 CEST) against England who have the same number of points. A draw would see Schick and the Reprezentace progress to the Round of 16.
The Bayer 04 striker is currently top goalscorer along with Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo. He has scored all of the Czech Republic's three goals so far at the Euros. That includes his record strike of over 45 metres which is the longest-range goal scored in the European Championships with the Leverkusen player thrilling TV viewers.
Great goals, battling and victorious underdogs, but also outstanding performances like Germany's against Portugal have helped to create Euro 2020 fever in spite of the continuing restrictions due to the pandemic. The great interest in the pan-European tournament is confirmed by TV ratings. The live broadcast of Germany's 4-2 win on ARD was watched by 20.11 million viewers. The market share was 75.7%.
Germany's 1-0 opening defeat against France on ZDF was watched by 22.55 million viewers (market share: 67.4%). The European Championship matches not involving Germany have also regularly attracted several million viewers producing a market share of over one third.
Xaver Zembrod was assistant coach at the Werkself for three and a half years. For over 150 matches, the now 54-year-old supported the former Bayer 04 head coaches Tayfun Korkut, Heiko Herrlich and Peter Bosz. Zembrod joined RB Leipzig in the summer as the assistant to Julian Nagelsmann. As recently announced by FC Bayern, the 33-year-old coach is taking his assistant with him from Leipzig to Munich.
The Werkself training camp in the Weimarer Land all in one place: in our daily blog, you’ll find all the insights and updates from the day. The programme for day two (Monday, 3 August) centres on two training sessions – one in the morning (open to the public) and one in the early evening (behind closed doors) – at the nearby training grounds. In the afternoon, fans can look forward to a big fan meet-up with club legend Paulo Sergio at Schloss Blankenhain.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have extended Abdoulaye Faye’s contract by a further year to 30 June 2031. During the 2026/27 season, the talented defender will play for Celta Vigo on loan without an option to buy. The 21-year-old Senegalese is set to feature in La Liga and the UEFA Europa League with last season’s sixth-placed side in Spain.
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The Werkself's training camp in Weimarer Land all in one place: in our daily blog you'll find all the insights and updates from the day. The programme on day one (Sunday 2 August) includes a media round with managing director sport Simon Rolfes, free time for the team after the friendly against Rot-Weiss Essen and before an intensive week of training begins, as well as a coffee get-together where CEO Fernando Carro and Rolfes met around 100 fans in the afternoon.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have agreed Kerim Alajbegovic’s transfer to Italian record champions Juventus. The club brought the 18-year-old attacking player back to Leverkusen this summer via a buy-back option, following a season at Red Bull Salzburg. Until his move to Austria, the Bosnia international had been playing for Bayer 04’s Under-19s.
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A warm welcome to the Weimarer Land, Bayer 04! The Werkself moved into their accommodation for this year’s training camp on Saturday evening. In Blankenhain, Thuringia, head coach Carles Martínez’s team have a programme of gruelling training sessions – several of which will be open to fans – and team-building activities lined up for the next six days. We’ll be following the Werkself up close and providing you with exclusive insights, quotes, photos and videos from the training camp.
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