The two Werkself youngsters Florian Wirtz and Lennart Grill are through to the final of the U21 European championship with the Germany U21s. The team under head coach Stefan Kuntz beat the Netherlands 2-1 in the semi-finals on Thursday. The man of the match on the night was Bayer 04 midfielder Wirtz who first set the record for the fastest goal in the history of the U21 European Championships with the opener on 29 seconds and then doubled his tally just seven minutes later with a clinical finish to make it 2-0.
Rudi Völler, Bayer 04 sporting managing director, revealed to BILD that he was impressed after the Wirtz gala performance: "The first goal opened up the game and set Florian on his way. And his trap and control of the ball were wonderful for the second goal. That's why he's already at such a high level at the age of 18."
Simon Rolfes also found positive words for the work rate of the 18-year-old: "Flo puts in an incredible amount of running in every game. Sometimes a lot of metres are in vain. But you have to make those runs," said the Bayer 04 sporting director. And from the ranks of the senior Germany team there was also compliments from an old friend for the youngster from Pulheim – former Werkself player and newly crowned Champions League winner Kai Havertz said Florian had produced an "outstanding performance."
By reaching the final, the two Bayer 04 players are following in the footsteps of Gonzalo Castro (2009) and Jonathan Tah (2019) who also reached the final of the U21 European Championship with Germany.
The Kuntz team play Portugal on Sunday, 6 June (kick-off: 21.00 CEST) after they knocked out Spain with a 1-0 victory in the other semi-final on Thursday night. Our number 27 is determined ahead of the final and he said he "wants to win the tournament as well."
Two Werkself players also met on the international stage on the South American continent today (Friday). In the qualifier for the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar, Chile with Charles Aránguiz, who played for 86 minutes, faced Argentina. Exequiel Palacios came on for the two-time World Cup winners on 81 minutes – that was the comeback for our number 25 after recovering from a groin injury. The clash of the Bayer 04 midfielders ended all square at 1-1 with goals from Lionel Messi (24') and Alexis Sánchez (36'). Lucas Alario, who suffered a muscle injury in his right thigh in the season run-in with the Werkself, was not in the 'Albiceleste' squad.
The Bender brothers documentary - 'BENDER – Die Unzertrennlichen' – put out on Bayer 04 TV on 27 May has already proved to a complete success. Over 112,000 people have already watched the documentary homage to the two Werkself players Lars and Sven Bender, who hung up their boots at the end of the 2020/21 season, on YouTube.
There has also been recognition from other German clubs. 1860 Munich commented on the documentary on the Bayer 04 YouTube channel with the following words: "The documentary is a MUST for every Lions fan. Thank you Bayer 04!" And VfL Wolfsburg also showed their respect: "After the Havertz work, the next big step in terms of documentaries on club TV. You are setting the standards! Hats off!"
Anybody wishing to see the film again can watch the documentary HERE.
“Year after year, this is an incredibly valuable gathering, both in terms of the content covered and the opportunity for mutual discussion,” stressed Bayer 04 goalkeeping coach David Thiel in his welcoming address at this year’s goalkeeping coaches’ meeting. This was the third time in four seasons that the event had been held at the BayArena. Organised by the German Football Association (DFB), the meeting brought together goalkeeping coaches from the Bundesliga, Bundesliga 2 and the 3rd division from the west region. For the first time this year, goalkeeping coaches from the youth performance centres (NLZ) were also present. Bayer 04 fitness coach Markus Müller provided fascinating insights into the specific fitness training carried out with the Werkself’s goalkeepers.
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It was another incredibly close call in the end: The second showdown in the 2026/27 VBL Club Championship saw the #B04eSports team once again narrowly miss out on a place in the top 16 of the preliminary round – and with it, a spot in the in-person knockout stage. It was a bitter blow: Marc and Sean Landwehr again fell just short, despite being level on points with their rivals. As was the case last month, their weaker record across the twelve individual matches in the six preliminary round fixtures proved decisive.
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“They stuck with us over the past few weeks when things weren’t going so well,” said captain Edmond Tapsoba, thanking the fans for their support after the 2–1 win in Cologne and dedicating the derby victory to them. Throughout the 90 minutes, the Werkself had looked unfazed and in command, inflicting the first home defeat of the season on FC Köln. It was the sixth consecutive win against the Cologne team for Bayer 04 – head coach Carles Martínez, on the other hand, was facing the team from the neighbouring city for the first time and “now really knows what this derby win means”. The Werkself derby review.
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Following the 2–1 derby victory away at FC Köln on Bundesliga matchday 9, Edmond Tapsoba, Malik Tillman and Aleix Garcia spoke to Werkself TV...
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-1 derby win at 1. FC Köln Matchday 9 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
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