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.
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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Sofie Zdebel is up for the Goal of the Month award for February on ARD-Sportschau. Fans have until 21 March (19:00 CET) to vote for the Germany U23 international's volley to make it 2-0 in the Bayer 04 Women's derby against FC Köln (2-1).
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen are further expanding their partner network: The feed manufacturer PerNaturam is an official sponsor of the Bayer 04 Womens team. The partnership opens up a wide range of opportunities for the company to position its brand in the Bundesliga environment.
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Do you dream of wearing the Bayer cross on your chest? To play in black and red like your role models Loreen Bender, Cornelia Kramer, Kristin Kögel and co. from the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga? Then take your chance now! Our female youth teams are once again on the lookout for new talent. That's why Bayer 04 are organising a talent day on 12 April 2026 for the first time this year with trials for female juniors.
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