In addition to the Leverkusen Germany international, five other Bundesliga players are in the running: Jamal Musiala, Ryan Gravenberch (both Bayern Munich) Karim Adeyemi and Jude Bellingham (both Borussia Dortmund) plus Josko Gvardiol (RB Leipzig). The other candidates are Nuno Mendes (Paris Saint-Germain), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid) and Gavi (Barcelona).
The trophy will be presented at the 66th award of the Ballon d‘Or, which is to be held at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris on 17 October. The winner of the Kopa Trophy will be selected by the former Ballon d'Or winners like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
The award for the best U21 player of the year has been presented since 2018 with Kylian Mbappe the first winner. FC Bayern new signing Matthijs De Ligt was the winner in 2019. The trophy was not awarded two years ago due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The trophy was last won by the Spaniard Pedri (Barcelona).
Bayer 04 Leverkusen will begin their 2025-26 preseason campaign with an exciting friendly against Flamengo U20, one of South America’s elite youth sides, on Thursday, 18 July at 15:00 local time (20:00 CEST). The game will be played at historic Estádio da Gávea in Rio de Janeiro.
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The match details for the Bayer 04 first round tie in the 2025/26 DFB Pokal campaign have been confirmed. The Werkself are away to SG Sonnenhof Großaspach on Friday, 15 August with the kick-off at 18:00 CEST. That was announced by the German Football Association (DFB) today. The DFB Pokal tie against the state cup winners from Baden-Württemberg will be played at the WIRmachenDRUCK Arena. Ticket information to follow.
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The German Football Association (DFB) has given Bayer 04 the Pitch of the Year award in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga for the 2024/25 season and thereby for the sixth time in succession. The Ulrich Haberland Stadium was once again named the best pitch in the Women's Bundesliga last season.
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To all Bayer 04 fans: The Fanwelt will be closed all day next Monday 30 June. This is due to preparations for the change of kit supplier from Castore to New Balance on Tuesday 1 July.
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A high quality test for the Bayer 04 Women: The team led by coach Roberto Pätzold will play Women’s Bundesliga runners-up VfL Wolfsburg during the training camp in Rieden in Bavaria.
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