Löw has selected 24 players, including Max Meyer, Julian Brandt and Niklas Süle who won silver medals a week ago at Rio 2016. Commenting on the trio, Löw said : “Max Meyer and Julian Brandt have already been with us and we wanted to get to know Niklas Süle. The three youngsters earned their call-ups through their very good performances. I think they see the call-up as motivation and inspiration to produce consistent performances. With players like them we are looking to take the next step in their development. They have great potential. As a general rule: The door to the national side is open. I’m sure other players will get their chance in the coming months.”
For Karim Bellarabi and Kevin Volland this represents a return to the Germany squad after missing out on Euro 2016.
Next Wednesday’s international against Finland will be the final international appearance for Bastian Schweinsteiger. The captain announced his international retirement a few days after the Euros and the game against the Scandinavians will be cap number 121 for the 32-year-old. The game in Mönchengladbach was also supposed to present a chance for Lukas Podolski to bid farewell on the international stage. Due to injury, Podolski will have to catch up at a later date.
After their first win on matchday 6 in the UCL league phase, Olympiacos are still in with a good chance of reaching the play-offs in the UEFA Champions League. The 2024 UEFA Conference League winners will be looking to go one better in their home match against Bayer 04 this Tuesday, 20 January (kick-off: 21:00 CET), but their stop scorer is unavailable. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Panagiotis, known as Panos, Retsos wore the Bayer 04 jersey for three years. Including his loan spells, he was under contract with the Werkself for a total of four and a half years. "It's a very special club for me," said the 27-year-old, who returned to his boyhood club Olympiacos in 2022, in an interview with bayer04.de. The former Leverkusen man is now captain and a first choice for the Werkself's next opponents in the UEFA Champions League. Ahead of the clash on Tuesday night, 20 January (kick-off: 21:00 CET), Retsos talks about his fond memories of his time in Leverkusen and the imminent reunion with some of his former team-mates. He also talks about who brought him to Leverkusen and why he likes getting older.
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Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without goalkeeper Mark Flekken and forward Nathan Tella for the time being.
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After a week in the Algarve, the Bayer 04 Women returned home on Saturday afternoon. The Werkself had six training sessions, two friendlies and a lot of time together as a team. Roberto Pätzold's team will be back in action in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga next Friday for the start of matchday 15.
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