Born and raised in the Paris suburb of Bondy, Axel Tape played for FC 93 Bobigny until the age of 12. Then in summer 2020, nearby top club Paris Saint-Germain came calling.
The technically gifted, fast and versatile Tape progressed through all the youth ranks at the current French treble winners. In the season just gone, he primarily featured for the PSG U19 side and started in every UEFA Youth League match.
The 1.80-metre-tall youngster also got his first taste of senior football in the 2024/25 campaign. Having been included in Luis Enrique's squad for the first time in November, he made his debut in the Coupe de France in January, starting in the centre of defence alongside Lucas Hernandez.
After this successful professional debut, Tape also got the chance to impress at the end of the Ligue 1 season, playing 90 minutes at centre-back in both the 2-1 defeat to Racing Strasbourg on Matchday 32 and the 4-1 win over Montpellier HSC on Matchday 33.
As well as the treble of the Champions League, league and cup for the first team, Tape also celebrated the French U19 championship at the end of the season. He and his team-mates beat FC Nantes 2-1 in the final last weekend.
Bayer 04 managing director sport Simon Rolfes considers the French U18 international "a versatile defensive player, a good footballer with pace, athleticism and a sharp reading of the game. We see great potential in Axel."
The Werkself need a win in their penultimate match of the season at RB Leipzig on Monday evening (18:00 CEST) to keep their hopes of third place alive until the final day. After Eintracht Frankfurt lost on Saturday, Roberto Pätzold's side can close the gap on their rivals to two points and leave it all to play for next Sunday.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 1-3 loss at VfB Stuttgart on Matchday 33 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season...
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Down to fifth from fourth place despite taking an early lead: in the head-to-head for a Champions League spot, Bayer 04 were 1-0 up at VfB Stuttgart with just a minute played thanks to an Aleix Garcia strike, but ultimately lost 3-1 (2-1) to the more determined hosts. It meant the Swabians leapfrogged the Werkself in the Bundesliga table on the penultimate matchday.
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Today sees Bayer 04 go head-to-head with their next direct rivals in the race for Champions League qualification (kick-off 15:30 CEST). Opponents Stuttgart are currently fifth in the table, level on points with the Werkself but one place below them due to a three-goal inferior goal difference. The Black and Reds' record at Bad Cannstatt tells a clearer story: they've not lost at VfB for over 16 years. One important factor in securing what would be three crucial points away from home is Leverkusen's strength on the counter-attack. Whilst Stuttgart are also extremely dangerous going forward, they will be without their captain. Today’s matchday news.
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