First, Benni Zander and Alex Schlüter welcomed the 38-year-old to the Podcast stage. As part of the ‘kicker meets DAZN’ podcast, Rolfes talked about his time as a TV pundit for the broadcaster ZDF. “It wasn’t at all easy to explain what’s happened in a game in 90 seconds.”
The Bayer 04 honorary captain had one lasting impression from the time he completed his Master for International Players (MIP), a two-year course offered by UEFA. In addition to Rolfes, other big names in football like Eric Abidal and Juninho have also earned that qualification. “It was a great networking opportunity. Sometimes it was a bit like a school trip – we quickly became a team and are still in contact with each other.” Other subjects on the podcast, that will be available from Monday on all the usual platforms, included the transfer strategy at Bayer 04 and also the level of communication between the new generation of sporting directors.
As well as Rolfes, this definitely includes Marcel Schäfer. The 35-year-old hung up his boots in 2018 and is now the sporting director at VfL Wolfsburg after ten years playing for the Wolves. Rolfes and Schäfer know each other well from their time of playing each other. They both took part in a DFB leadership trip to the USA in December. They met up again at SPOBIS – on the stage. Along with two other speakers, they talked about their relationship with players, agents and clubs.
The final day of SPOBIS 2020 on Thursday sees Black and Red representation on the stage again; this time it is Fernando Carro, the chairman of the board at Bayer 04. The 55-year-old will be joined on-stage by Axel Hellmann (member of the board at Eintracht Frankfurt), Oliver Leki (member of the board at SC Freiburg) and Bernd Hoffmann (chairman of the board at Hamburg SV). The subject covered by the quartet: ‘Bundesliga: What we have learned from our mistakes and now have to do better’.
Bosnia U19 international Kerim Alajbegovic is moving from Bayer 04 Leverkusen's youth set-up to Red Bull Salzburg. The talented attacking midfielder has signed a long-term contract with the Austrian club. At the same time, the works club secured a buy-back option for the 17-year-old, who was one of the mainstays of the Leverkusen U19s.
Show moreThe Werkself are away to Premier League club Chelsea in the final pre-season friendly. The game against the current holders of the UEFA Conference League is on Friday, 8 August at Stamford Bridge with the kick-off at 20:00 CEST. Read on for information on ticket sales.
Show moreThe Werkself are away to Dutch top-flight club Fortuna Sittard in the third pre-season friendly. The match is on Friday, 1 August at the Fortuna Sittard stadium with the kick-off at 19:00 CEST. Read on for information on ticket sales.
Show moreThe Werkself are away to VfL Bochum in the second pre-season friendly. The match is on Sunday, 27 July at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion with the kick-off at 18:00 CEST. Read on for the latest information on ticket sales.
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