“The first match is incredibly important. Will we get it right as we intend? If that happens it will give us a certain sense of security for the match. And if we pick up three points then we’ll have exactly what we want to progress in a tournament like this,” declared coach Horst Hrubesch.
Germany, with Lars Bender sharing a room with his twin brother Sven at the team hotel, have high hopes. “The first target is to win the group so we don’t have to move for the quarter-finals. And we want to be in the Olympic village for the semi-finals to share that experience. We’ve heard about that so often and find it absolutely fascinating. As a footballer you can usually only be there once in your life,” said Hrubesch, whose players follow up the opener against Mexico with games against South Korea (Sunday, 21.00 CET) and Fiji (Wednesday, 21.00 CET).
Renato Augusto and Son in Brazil too
Like Julian Brandt, Lars Bender is also really keen to face the challenge of the Olympic Games. “It’s great to be part of the Olympics but I don’t want to just look at photos in the future and say I was there. I would rather hold something in my hands. Every athlete wants to win to have something forever that you can enjoy remembering,” said Lars who was a Under-19 European Champion along with his brother in 2008. Renato Augusto (Brazil) plus Heung-Min Son and Seung-Woo Ryu (both South Korea) are former Bayer 04 players at the Olympic tournament.
Krahn plays in first win
While Bender, Brandt and the men’s team can hardly wait for their Olympic opener, Annike Krahn and the Germany women’s team have already played their first group match in Brazil. The team coached by Silvia Neid clocked up a 6-1 win against Zimbabwe in Sao Paulo. The Werkself central defender, who won a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, played the full 90 minutes. The other group opponents for Germany are Australia (Saturday 23.00 CET) and Canada (Tuesday, 21.00 CET).
SAB-P GmbH is to become Bayer 04 Leverkusen's first official inclusion partner. The company, which has previously been involved in the club's Business Club, is underlining its social commitment to inclusion with an agreement that runs until 31 May 2027. Among other things, it will be the shirt sponsor of the Inclusion Team from the 2026/27 season onwards.
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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 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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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 3-1 win against Eintracht Frankfurt on Matchday 20 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season...
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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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