From aspiring youth talent to Bundesliga first team regular: Florian Wirtz became a favourite for everybody who supports Bayer 04 last season at the age of just 18. The versatile forward provided eight goals and eight assists in 38 games. He also became a European Champion with the Germany U21s in the summer. These stats plus his inimitable dribbling and clever passes have secured Wirtz a place in the list of nominations for the Golden Boy Award.
The award by the Italian sports journal Tuttosport for the most promising U21 talent worldwide is very well respected. Also in the vote alongside Wirtz are eleven other Bundesliga players and the list contains 100 U21 talents. Tuttosport have presented the Golden Boy Award since 2003 and previous winners include Lionel Messi (2005), Mario Götze (2011), Kylian Mbappe (2017) and the most recently Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland.
Kai Havertz and Kevin Volland could hardly have found a better phone a friend alternative. The former Leverkusen players took part in a YouTube based ‘DFB EURO taxi’ that included answering quiz questions. But the Germany players did not have a clue about the question of who was the host country for the 1972 European Championship.
They immediately made use of their phone a friend option – as they called up Rudi Völler. The Bayer 04 sporting managing director obviously leapt at the chance of supporting the former charges. Although the 61-year-old was sitting in his favourite restaurant and had a glass of wine, he naturally knew the right answer: "Belgium". It's good to have such experienced friends...
From the first team to the youth talents: The Bayer 04 U17s start the Leverkusen weekend of friendlies. The team under Jan Hoepner and Thomas Zdebel play the U19 team of Fortuna Köln on Saturday, 19 June. The kick-off at the Kurtekotten Performance Centre is at 11.00 CEST.
That is followed the next day by the U13 team playing Jugendsport Wenau at 11.00 CEST. The oldest year group at Bayer 04, the U19s, face TuS Koblenz on Tuesday night, 22 June (kick-off: 19.00 CEST). Both of those friendlies will also be played at Kurtekotten.
Finally, we have put together a few social media highlights for you. Enjoy the following formats, short videos and photos:
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 3-2 win against RB Leipzig on the 12th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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For the second time in three weeks, Bayer 04 have to face a team that has just changed coach. The Werkself’s overall record against Augsburg and the Bavarians’ poor season so far both point towards a Leverkusen win, but head coach Kasper Hjulmand is still aware of the threat going into Saturday’s Bundesliga encounter (kick-off: 15:30 CET). Here’s all you need to know ahead of the Matchday 13 fixture at the WWK Arena.
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The groups for the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico have been finalised. At the draw in the USA capital Washington D.C., which was hosted by German top model Heidi Klum and others, 48 teams were drawn for the first time. The groups at a glance.
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As part of the joint commitment of Bayer 04 and the City of Leverkusen to volunteering, the annual Volunteer Day took place in the 19nullvier Lounge at the BayArena. Fernando Carro, Bayer 04 CEO, Stefan Hebbel, Mayor of the City of Leverkusen, and club representative Stefan Kießling praised the commitment of the 200 or so volunteers from the region in attendance and thanked them for their impressive efforts.
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