Paulinho started his summer break on Sunday. The Werkself number seven (pictured above wearing the number 33) has been playing for the Brazil U22 team at the Maurice Ravello tournament in Toulon. With success. The Brazil youngsters beat Japan in the final on Saturday 6-5 on penalties. Paulinho, who scored a goal and provided an assist in the 2-0 win in the semi-final against Ireland, played the full 90 minutes in the final. The 18-year-old winger scored three goals and laid on two – and he was also named ‘Best young player’ and the scorer of the ‘Best goal of the tournament’.
Today sees the start of the U21 European Championships (16 to 30 June) in Italy and San Marino for the German team led by captain Jonathan Tah. "Of course, it's always special for me being the captain," said Tah at the weekend and he spoke about a "great honour". The 23-year-old central defender joined the squad a few days ago after being on the road with the senior Germany team. "The way he leads the team not just verbally but also on the pitch is everything a coach would wish for," said Germany coach Stefan Kuntz in praise of Tah's performances. The U21 European champions of 2017 start their title defence at 21.00 CET with the first of three group matches against Denmark. On Thursday (20 June, 21.00 CET) Germany face Serbia and Austria provide the opposition on Sunday (23 June, 21.00 CET)..
Jonathan Tah is joined on international duty this week by Charles Aránguiz (Chile) and Leon Bailey (Jamaica). Aránguiz and Chile tonight play Japan (18 June, 01.00 CET) in the group stage of the Copa America (14 June to 7 July), this year held in Brazil, before Saturday's match against Ecuador (22 June, 01.00 CET). At the Gold Cup (15 June to 7 July in the USA, Costa Rica and Jamaica) Bailey and Jamaica play Honduras (18 June, 03.30 CET) and El Salvador (22 June, 01.00 CET) for a place in the quarter-finals.
The Monday edition of the sports journal kicker includes the first part of the six-monthly ranking of German football. Jonathan Tah is behind Mats Hummels (Bayern Munich) and ahead of Willi Orban (RB Leipzig) in second place ('International class'). The kicker highlights the fact that, during the evaluation period from 10 January to 14 June, Tah "Did his job reliably, stood out with his positional play and has the best average marks in his position at 2.74." Tah's team-mate Sven Bender was one of 13 Bundesliga pros named in the' Up-and-coming' section. There was a similar assessment of Wendell. The 25-year-old Brazilian was also mentioned in a similar section for full-backs thanks to his "massive improvement in performances in the second half of the season with one goal and one assist." In contrast, Lukas Hradecky misses out in the 12-man goalkeeper rankings because the kicker editors say he only produced "Top performances rarely and made too many slips." Rankings for the other position will follow in the next few days.
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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