
“We're happy that Kai Havertz is the next homegrown player to make a long-term commitment to the club. It underlines our ambition to bring more and more talented youngsters through to the first team,” declared sporting director Rudi Völler.
Havertz, who previously played for Alemannia Mariadorf (to 2008) and Alemannia Aachen (2008-2010), joined Bayer 04 Leverkusen in 2010. Here, he became a Germany Under 17 international and this year he won the Germany Under 17 league title. “Along with Atakan Akkaynak and Sam Schreck, Kai joined us at the training camp in Austria and and he had great fun out there. He looked relaxed and showed he has great potential. If his development continues at the same pace then he will a brilliant addition to our squad,” added Völler.


Decision made: Germany will submit a bid to the IOC (International Olympic Committee) to host the 2036, 2040 or 2044 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Munich. The representatives of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) voted for Munich over Cologne-Rhine-Ruhr at their extraordinary meeting in Baden-Baden on Saturday 26 September. Berlin had already withdrawn from the vote a few days earlier.
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Former Werkself star Michael Ballack, who won the German Footballer of the Year award in 2002 while playing in Leverkusen, celebrates his 50th birthday on Saturday. Bayer 04 sends him its best wishes!
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A challenging start to what will hopefully be a long journey: The Bayer 04 women’s team kick off their new DFB Pokal campaign on Sunday (14:00 CEST) against second-division leaders FC Viktoria Berlin. Coach Roberto Pätzold expects stiff resistance in the capital – and is counting on his team’s strong away form in the Bundesliga so far this term.
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Attention Werkself fans: In addition to tickets for the floodlit home match against Werder Bremen, tickets are now also available for the Bayer 04 women’s team’s two subsequent fixtures against Eintracht Frankfurt and Hamburger SV at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. Both matches in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga will take place at family-friendly kick-off times on Saturday afternoons. Here is the latest information on matchday ticket sales.
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