Rudi Völler presented the shirt sent by the PZPN for the versatile midfielder with Stanilewicz and number 18 on the back. "It's always special being called up for a World Cup. And as a club, we are obviously happy that our training and education has play a part in that. But it's mainly Adrian who's earned it through his continually impressive performances this season, above all with the U19 side," said the Bayer 04 managing director sport.
In the season just gone, Stanilewicz played in all 26 games for the Bayer 04 U19s in the U19 Bundesliga and he scored three goals. At the end of December, the left footer made his debut for the first team in the Europa League game at AEK Larnaca (5-1).
At the U 20 World Cup he will be with the Poland squad coached by Jacek Magiera in the group stage in Lodz for the games against Colombia (23 May, 20.30 CET), Tahiti (26 May, 20.30 CET) and Senegal (29 May, 20.30 CET).
Strengthening the Bayer 04 Leverkusen youth teams: Konstantinos Kotsifakis will join the Werkself from Bundesliga 2 club Hertha Berlin for the 2026/27 season, where he will be a permanent member of the Leverkusen U19 coaching set-up. The German-Greek will also take on an operational role in coaching the Bayer 04 Future Team. The 29-year-old was most recently head coach of the U17s at Hertha Berlin.
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Another award for the Bayer 04 head groundsman and staff: After coming top in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, the BayArena pitch came second in the Bundesliga Pitch of the Year ranking for the 2025/26 season. VfL Wolfsburg secured the top spot this year, with TSG Hoffenheim in third place.
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Opening opponents, derby weekends, the opponents in the season finale: This information and more will be available to Bayer 04 fans on Thursday, 2 July, when the 2026/27 Bundesliga fixture list is published.
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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 personal 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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