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.
The successor to Sergi Runge as head coach of the Bayer 04 U19 team has been decided. Following the Spaniard's appointment to Kasper Hjulmand's first team coaching staff, the current U17 head coach Kevin Brok (photo) will be responsible for the U19s until the end of the season. As a result, Benjamin Adam will also move up a year and will now coach the U17s instead of the U16s, also until the end of the season. The structure of the coaching and support staff will remain unchanged.
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The Werkself are away to Mainz 05 on matchday 7 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season. The game at the MEWA ARENA is on Saturday, 18 October, with the kick-off at 15.30 CEST. Read on for information on ticket sales.
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A floodlit thriller and a home win for head coach Kasper Hjulmand in his first game in charge. Bayer 04 beat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-1 at the start of Bundesliga matchday 3. Alejandro Grimaldo scored with a spectacular free-kick and Patrik Schick with a penalty before the break, and after Frankfurt pulled a goal back, Grimaldo crowned a strong Werkself performance in stoppage time - again with a strike from a free-kick.
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For the first match under head coach Kasper Hjulmand on Friday night, 12 September (kick-off: 20:30 CEST/live on Sky and WOW), the Werkself welcome an Eintracht Frankfurt side in impressive early form. The Eagles counter-attacking and clinical finishing have stood out in their previous wins this term. Important advice for all fans travelling to and from the match by train: There will be cancellations of S-Bahn services to and from Leverkusen Mitte in both directions. The latest information on tonight’s match.
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