
Jonathan Tah stood on the sidelines ready to come on to help secure victory for Germany. However, the final whistle at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam prevented the central defender earning another cap, but did not diminish his joy at the 3-2 win against Holland. Julian Brandt and Kai Havertz did not appear either after the Bayer 04 trio were in the starting line-up against Serbia on Wednesday.
While Germany were able to celebrate a successful start to the European Championship qualification campaign, the other Werkself pros were left empty-handed. That particularly applies to Aleksandar Dragovic and Julian Baumgartlinger who were in the Austria side that lost 1-0 against Poland and now experienced another setback with a 4-2 defeat in Israel. Drago and Baumi went the full distance against the hosts coached by fellow countryman Andreas Herzog.
Tin Jedvaj played 77 minutes for Croatia in a 2-1 defeat in the European qualifier away to Hungary. Lukas Hradecky also tasted defeat with Finland in the match against Italy: The Bayer 04 keeper had to pick the ball out of the net twice as his team lost 2-0 against the World Cup winners of 2006. Charles Aránguiz also played the full 90 minutes as Chile lost 3-1 to Mexico in a friendly played in the USA.
While the other international players are on their way back to Leverkusen, Aránguiz, Hradecky and U19 player Adrian Stanilewicz still have games to play for their countries.
Lukas Hradecky (Finland)
Tuesday, 26 March (18.00 CET,Yerevan): Armenia vs Finland (European qualifier, Group J)
Charles Aránguiz (Chile)
Wednesday, 27 March (02.00 CET, Houston): USA vs Chile (Friendly)
Adrian Stanilewicz (Poland U20)
Tuesday, 26 March (18.00 CET, Bielsko-Biala): Poland U20 vs Germany U20 (Elite League)

In their third friendly of this pre-season, Bayer 04 played on home soil for the first time – and won there too! The Werkself claimed a comfortable 4-0 victory against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion. Jeanuel Belocian (9’) and Nathan Tella (42’) gave a dominant Leverkusen a 2-0 lead at the break, which Afonso Moreira (51’) and Christian Kofane (53’) doubled after the break. Among the many second-half substitutions was Patrik Schick, who made his first friendly appearance of the summer.
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The Werkself are finally back. On Saturday 8 August, Bayer 04 kick off the 2026/27 campaign with their opening match. But there’s far more than just a double-header in store for Werkself supporters. True to the motto ‘One day. Two teams. One club’, the BayArena and the Ulrich Haberland Stadium will be transformed into a world of excitement.
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The Werkself continue their 2026/27 pre-season preparations with their third friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Wednesday 29 July (kick-off 15:00 CEST). Werkself-TV is broadcasting the match live and in full in a stream from 14:50 CEST...

After the children from the Bayer 04 Football Academy grilled Janis Blaswich and Simeon Rapsch last week, another group of 20 young Werkself fans gathered at the BayArena press conference room on Tuesday afternoon, 28 July . This time, the kids directed their questions at Tim Oermann and Jonah Berghoff. Defender Oermann raved about his school days, whilst talented midfielder Berghoff revealed to the young footballers, amongst other things, who his favourite player is – and he is also at Bayer 04. To round things off, the pair naturally obliged with all requests for autographs and selfies.
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Bayer 04 are back on the pitch. Following the first training sessions, the Werkself play the first pre-season friendly on Saturday, July 18. The match against Oberliga club Sportfreunde Baumberg kicks off at 15:30 CEST in Monheim am Rhein. Fans unable to attend the match can watch head coach Carles Martínez’s first game in charge for free via a livestream at bayer04.de and on the Bayer 04 app, as well as on Werkself.tv (exclusively for members). Just log on and watch the games live. All the other Werkself preseason friendlies leading up to the 2026/27 season will also be streamed live for free.
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