He was already the Bundesliga Player of the Month, could be the North Rhine-Westphalia Player of the Year – and since this week is one of the best U21 players in the world: Florian Wirtz. The 18-year-old playmaker with the Werkself finished in an impressive seventh place in the Kopa Trophy awards from the French sports newspaper France Football.
The Spanish player Pedri was presented as the winner at the Ballon d'Or awards. The Barcelona striker follows on from Matthijs de Ligt (Juventus) who won the trophy in 2019.
Florian Wirtz dropped out late on for the away game in Berlin (1-1) at the start of November due to hip problems and he then went on to take a ten-day break from training. "That did him good," said head coach Gerardo Seoane. "We are glad that was possible."
A decision that has been positive with regard to the performances of the talented youngster. In the 1-0 win against VfL Bochum, our number 27 stood out with a lot of involvement in attacking moves. The 18-year-old then went on to demonstrate his effectiveness in the final third in the victories against Celtic (two assists from Wirtz) and at Leipzig (one goal).
What many people do not know was that the midfielder was not on the pitch with his teammates in between the games against Bochum and Celtic. Seoane: "We were extremely careful. It was important to reduce his workload as much as possible." Wirtz primarily completed individual sessions at the BayArena to spare his hip. "The issue isn't finished," the Swiss coach. "But it's positive that we have a week until the next game." There is confidence that Wirtz will be able to make it through to the winter break due to the reduced training programme.
Immediately after winning the DFB Cup, Bayer 04 signed a certain Paulo Sergio in the summer of 1993. Brought over from the Brazilian club Corinthians São Paulo, he remained with the Werkself for four years. The striker won the World Cup with Brazil in that time and made 121 Bundesliga appearances for the Werkself. He provided ten assists and scored an impressive 47 goals – one of those was voted Goal of the Month in November 1996.
Sergio scored on 66 minutes in the home game against FC Köln to make it 3-0 (final score 4-2). HERE is the goal from the Brazilian on video.
Today's birthday boy Marcus Feinbier joined the Bayer 04 U19s in the summer of 1986 from his hometown of Berlin. The centre forward became a first-team player at the Werkself and won the UEFA Cup with the Black and Reds in 1988. Feinbier played 69 games in the Bundesliga for Leverkusen (three goals) before moving on to Hertha Berlin in 1992. Many happy returns on your 52nd birthday, Marcus.
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss against VfL Wolfsburg on the 2nd matchday of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga 2026/27.
In the 3-2 defeat at Bundesliga newcomers SV 07 Elversberg, the Werkself found the back of the net in the closing stages and, with a bit of luck, could still have equalised. “Today, our play wasn’t good enough, particularly when it came to the basics,” said head coach Carles Martínez. Like the boss, Ibrahim Maza also wants to learn from the match and look ahead: “Next week, people should be able to see from the very first minute that we want it more than our opponents.” The Werkself review on the Bundesliga opener in 2026/27.
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No points to start the league campaign: Bayer 04 lost 3-2 away to newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg in the first Bundesliga match of the 2026/27 campaign. Two quick-fire goals from Lukas Petkov (8’) and Cole Campbell (10’) gave the hosts an early lead, before David Mokwa scored the Saarland side’s third shortly after half-time (46’). In the closing stages, the Werkself rallied and staged a late comeback with goals from Patrik Schick (77’) and Christian Kofane (90+1’), but the Black and Reds were denied an equaliser.
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The Black and Reds kick off the new Bundesliga campaign today, Saturday 29 August (kick-off 15:30 CEST), away to newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg – and the Werkself will come up against a familiar face who is currently causing a stir at ‘Elv’. For an affordable and easy journey to the Saarland, the 1,600 travelling fans can still use the WERKSELFgo car-share platform. Today’s matchday news..
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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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