The Werkself training ground will be rather empty this week. There's a simple reason for the lack of players at Bayer 04: The next international break is here. And a squad full of Leverkusen players are away with their national teams. For the last international break there were 19 Bayer 04 players on the road at the end of August. There are fewer this time because of injuries to Karim Bellarabi, Vladlen Yurchenko and Joel Pohjanpalo.
Wendell is particularly looking forward to his trip to Brazil. The left back has received his first call-up to the Seleção squad and he is hoping to make his full international debut in the matches against Bolivia and Venezuela. Team-mate Charles Aránguiz is set to play for Chile in the South American World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Peru.
Germany, with Bernd Leno, Julian Brandt and Kevin Volland in the squad, have two World Cup qualifiers against the Czech Republic (Saturday, 8 October) and Northern Ireland (Tuesday, 11 October) with both matches kicking off at 20.45 CET. Jonathan Tah and Benjamin Henrichs are in the Germany U 21 squad for the matches against Russia (Friday, 7 October, 18.00 CET) and Austria (11 October, 18.00 CET).
Turkey with Hakan Calhanoglu and, for the first time in over two years, Ömer Toprak face Ukraine and Iceland. "It feels very special. I've been out of the reckoning for a long time so I was really pleased to get the call-up. The situation for people in Turkey has been really difficult recently. That makes it even better to be back again. We want to make them happy," said Toprak after the match against Borussia Dortmund when asked about his comeback for the national team coached by Fatih Terim.
Admir Mehmedi and Switzerland are in action against Hungary and Andorra. Julian Baumgartlinger, Aleksandar Dragovic and Ramazan Özcan are ready to take on the challenge with Austria to get important points in the World Cup qualifying campaign against Wales and Serbia. Croatia with Tin Jedvaj play Kosovo and Finland. Kevin Kampl and Slovenia are looking for wins against Slovakia and England. Robbie Kruse is with Australia for matches against Saudi Arabia and Japan.
As far as the youth players at Bayer 04 are concerned, Joel Abu Hanna is away with the Germany U19s and Kai Havertz, Atakan Akkaynak and Sam Schreck are on the road with the Germany U18 squad.
Bayer 04 are through to the second round of the DFB Pokal after a 4-0 win at Sonnenhof Großaspach on Friday night. The game was paused after only 18 minutes due to a storm over the ground. After a lengthy delay, play resumed and Patrik Schick opened the scoring. Arthur, Christian Kofane and Alejandro Grimaldo made things more comfortable in the second half, as the fourth-tier side had two players sent off.
Show moreThere were no goals across 115 minutes of football between Bayer 04 Women and PSV Eindhoven in Friday’s friendly. Roberto Pätzold’s team played two 45-minute periods before an extra 25 minutes two days prior to heading to Rieden for their training camp. Their Dutch opponents were preparing for their UEFA Women’s Champions League qualifier in 12 days.
Show moreThe first round of the DFB Pokal takes Bayer 04 to Sonnenhof Großaspach on Friday. The amateur club have just gained promotion to the fourth-tier Regionalliga Südwest and kicked off their campaign with two impressive wins. Here’s all you need to know as Erik ten Hag makes his competitive bow as Werkself boss at the WIRmachenDRUCK Arena (kick-off: 6pm CEST).
Show moreAfter two months preparing for the new season, the Werkself play the first game of the 2025/26 campaign on Friday, 15 August (kick-off: 18:00 CEST) away to SG Sonnenhof Großaspach in the first round of the DFB Pokal. Ahead of the tie against the team newly promoted to the Regional League South West, head coach Erik ten Hag talked about his approach to the knockout game and his soft spot for cup competitions.
Show moreBayer 04 Leverkusen has a new Premium Partner in its ranks in Düsseldorf company LumenHaus GmbH. The leading provider of networked home energy solutions has initially agreed a one-year partnership with the Bundesliga runners-up to the end of the 2025/26 season.
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