By far the youngest player in the Germany squad for the knockout rounds of the U21 European Championship is Florian Wirtz but he is seen as a key performer. At the age of just 18, the Werkself player has scored the second highest number of Bundesliga goals of all players selected, behind Ridle Baku (VfL Wolfsburg) – Wirtz has netted six goals in his 36 top-flight appearances. In contrast to his first call-up to the senior squad in March, when he was in the middle of his Abitur exams, the number seven for the Germany U21s can now focus completely on his football.
Germany coach Stefan Kuntz declared in relation to the versatile Leverkusen forward: "We are happy he's here. He has facets that we don't have covered in our squad and he massively increases the quality of the team."
Wirtz and Grill: Quarter-final against Denmark
Wirtz and Co. face Denmark in the quarter-finals on Monday night, 31 May. The kick-off at the Hungarian venue of Székesfehérvár is at 21.00 CEST with the game broadcast live on ProSieben. Also in the Germany squad is Bayer 04 goalkeeper Lennart Grill (shirt number 23), who did not appear in any of the three group matches. Moussa Diaby is set to play for the France U21s three hours earlier against the Netherlands. If both teams go through then Wirtz, Grill and Co. would meet France and Diaby in the semi-final. Good luck, lads!
Bosz new coach at Lyon
Just over two months after his departure from Bayer 04, Peter Bosz has a contract with the French top-flight club Olympique Lyon. The Dutchman takes over from Rudi Garcia as coach of the team placed fourth in Ligue 1. For the 57-year-old it is his first job as a coach in France but he did play for Sporting Toulon from 1988 to 1991.
In his slightly more than two and a half years at Bayer 04, Peter Bosz led the Werkself into the Champions League in 2019 and last year to the DFB Cup final as well as the quarter-finals of the Europa League. In the same European competition, Bosz and Lyon could face Bayer 04 in the coming season...
Copa América set to be called off
The Copa América is set to be called off with just twelve days to go before the start of the tournament. The South American equivalent to the European Championship was due to start two days before the Euro finals and was to be played between 13 June and 10 July in Colombia and Argentina. However, the South American football association CONMEBOL has announced that the continental tournament may not take place due to the state of the coronavirus pandemic in both host countries – an alternative venue or dates have not been settled at this point in time.
Both Colombia and Argentina have had to struggle with increasing Covid-19 case numbers since the start of March. And the three Werkself players Charles Aránguiz (Chile), Lucas Alario and Exequiel Palacios (Argentina) are affected by the possible cancellation of the tournament.
DFL announces financial figures
The German Football League (DFL) has published the financial figures for the 36 German Bundesliga clubs. This happens every year as part of the licensing procedure and relates to the last completed financial year for each particular club. All parameters that represent a relevant component of the financial figures are freely available on the DFL website in the spirit of transparency.
Happy birthday, 'Mr Sportschau'
Heribert Faßbender was the host of the ARD Sportschau programme some 400 times. Born in Ratingen, he first studied law but then moved on to sports journalism in 1962 – 20 years later he was head of sport at WDR and 'Mr Sportschau'– each week up to 15 million viewers watched his TV broadcasts on a Saturday night. He will be particularly remembered for his cold greeting of "Guten Abend allerseits" (Evening all), which gave him a high recognition value after more than 40 years on the microphone as a sports reporter.
After retiring, Faßbender was a member of the shareholders committee at Bayer 04 for eight years from 2007. Today he still follows Werkself matches week after week. Heribert Faßbender, who says he is still very well, celebrates his 80th birthday on this Monday. Many happy returns.
Many happy returns, Arne Larsen!
Arne Larsen Ökland is 67 years old on this Monday. The Norwegian centre-forward, who played for Leverkusen from 1980 to 1983, scored 46 goals of the Werkself in 108 games. Bayer 04 wish Arne a very happy birthday.
Opening opponents, derby weekends, the opponents in the season finale: This information and more will be available to Bayer 04 fans on Thursday, 2 July, when the 2026/27 Bundesliga fixture list is published.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personal Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have extended the contract with U19 midfielder Jonah Berghoff ahead of schedule. The Germany U18 international has signed professional terms with the club to 30 June 2030.
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Two months of preparation, five friendlies and the return of a familiar training camp location: After finishing fifth in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga last season, the Werkself will return to training on Tuesday, 23 June. Bayer04.de outlines the key dates in the 2026 summer timetable.
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