
They are the poster boys of Germany's top flight and week by week provide football fans across the whole of Germany with reasons to celebrate and also be frustrated: the Stars of the Bundesliga. The TV broadcaster Sky is running a short documentary series of the same name. A player is profiled in each episode and this week’s programme focuses on Werkself playmaker Florian Wirtz.
The 18-year-old became the youngest Bundesliga player to clock up 50 appearances a few weeks ago, he won the Fritz Walter gold-medal in 2020 and, at the age of 17 years and 24 days, he remains the second youngest Bundesliga goalscorer of all time. The profile of our number 27 will be broadcast this Thursday from 21.00 on Sky Sport Bundesliga 1.
The Thursday morning training session for the Werkself was watched by a familiar face from European football: Kaspar Hjulmand, head coach of the Denmark team since August 2020, attended the session at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium in the company of Keld Bordinggaard. The head of the coaching academy at Bayer 04 was Hjulmand's assistant coach at Mainz 05 from July 2014 to February 2015.

What do you miss most about Ecuador? Who was your football hero during your childhood? How do you most like spending your free time? And what's the correct pronunciation of your name? 04 questions from Werkself fans were recently put to our young defender Piero Hincapie. HERE is the video.
In part six of the 'NACHGEFRAGT' questions on YouTube, Werkself players answer the question of which is the best stadium they have played in to date. The answers from Florian Wirtz and Co. are HERE.

The European jersey has been launched, the UEL opponents have been drawn – and anticipation for the European campaign is running high. To mark the occasion, an autograph session was held on Friday afternoon, 28 August, at the Fanwelt with current Werkself player Montrell Culbreath and official club legend Paulo Sergio.
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After six and a half years, Exequiel Palacios is leaving the Bundesliga and moving from Bayer 04 to the Premier League. The Argentine, who as a Werkself player won the World Cup with his national team four years ago and finished as runners-up at this summer’s tournament, will play for newly promoted English side Ipswich Town with immediate effect. The 27-year-old, whose contract in Leverkusen was due to run until 30 June 2030, joined Bayer 04 in January 2020 as a promising young talent. He steadily developed into one of the best defensive midfielders in the German top flight.
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When Exequiel Palacios moved from the Argentinian club River Plate to Bayer Leverkusen on 1 January 2020, the then 21-year-old could not have imagined just how successful the next six and a half years would be for him. Pala, as he is known, had already won the Copa Libertadores – the most prestigious competition in South American club football – with River Plate. But there were still so many more trophies to come.
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To mark Exequiel Palacios’s departure, we’ve put together a compilation of the midfielder’s finest and most important goals from his six-and-a-half years at the club.
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