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.
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 personalised 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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Kasper Hjulmand has led the Werkself back to winning ways and is back in the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League with Bayer 04 after the 3-0 win against Villarreal on Wednesday evening. In an interview with the Werkself magazine at the BayArena in the team meeting room, directly opposite the dressing room, he provided some special insights for the current issue, which was published in January. A conversation with the 53-year-old coach about values, attitudes and personal experiences as well as interests outside of football.
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The thrilling 3-1 win for Bayer 04 against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Hinrunde is a fond memory for Alejandro Grimaldo, with his brace from free kicks, and coach Kasper Hjulmand, who was in the dugout under the Cross for the first time. Now comes the return fixture in the metropolis on the River Main and after going out of the DFB Pokal and the Champions League, the full focus at Eintracht, currently managed by two interim coaches, is now on the Bundesliga. For their part, the Werkself will do everything in their power to continue the longest winning run against a Bundesliga club. The matchday news.
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Bayer 04 have ended Artem Stepanov’s loan deal at Nürnberg and agreed a new loan to Utrecht in the Netherlands. The Ukrainian striker did not play as much as hoped for at the Bundesliga 2 club and will now continue his development in the Eredivisie for the rest of 2025/26.
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The draw for the knockout play-offs of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League was made on Friday, 30 January and saw Bayer 04 paired with Olympiacos. It’s a reunion with the Greek side following the Werkself’s 2-0 loss in Athens on Matchday 7 of the league phase.
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