Since 2003, the Italian sports magazine Tuttosport has presented the annual Golden Boy award for the best young player. This year's list of nominees includes players born in 2005 or younger - including Bayer 04 newcomer Eliesse Ben Seghir. Ben Seghir is joined by only one other Bundesliga player in Jobe Bellingham of Borussia Dortmund (via the wild card). In previous years, former Bayer 04 players Florian Wirtz, Odilon Kossounou, Piero Hincapie and Paulinho have been on the shortlist.
The top 100 young players are compiled using an algorithm developed by Football Benchmark and Golden Boy. The decisive factors here are performances at club level and for the respective national team. The top 20 and five wildcard players have now been selected from the 100 nominees. From these nominees, 50 international journalists will select the Golden Boy.
Werkself fans can vote for Ben Seghir in the Golden Boy Web award, an online public vote that includes the full list of 100 nominees: Click HERE to cast your vote.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen have appointed Carles Martínez Novell as the new head coach. The 42-year-old Spaniard worked for FC Toulouse in the French Ligue 1 until the end of the season. Martínez finished last term in ninth place with the club from the south of France. He will take over the Werkself on 1 July 2026 and has signed a contract to 30 June 2028. Martínez, whose contract with Toulouse expires at the end of the month, succeeds Kasper Hjulmand at Leverkusen, who is leaving the club after one season.
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Bayer 04 plans for the 2026/27 pre-season continue to take shape. The Werkself will kick off the new season in mid-July with the return to the training ground. The highlight will be the official season opener on 8 August at the BayArena, including a friendly against La Liga club Sevilla. Friendlies in Germany will take the team to neighbouring Monheim, Offenbach and Jena.
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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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