DFB president Reinhard Grindel, Germany coach Joachim Löw and manager Oliver Bierhoff attended the event held at the Kremlin concert hall.
Back in Leverkusen, Bernd Leno, Julian Brandt, Benny Henrichs and Jonathan Tah took particular attention of Germany's opponents in the group stage. The Bayer 04 quartet are currently in the extended Germany squad heading for Russia to defend their title. Leno (6 international caps), Brandt (13) and Henrichs (3) played in the World Cup qualifiers. Tah (3) last played for his country in a 0-0 draw in a friendly against Italy in November 2016. Bayer 04 striker Kevin Volland must also have high hopes making it to the World Cup finals.
The first group match could see the Werkself pros meet up with a former team-mate in Chicharito. Germany kick off their title defence against Mexico on Sunday 17 June at the Luzhniki Park in Moscow. The second group game follows on 23 June with the Löw eleven taking on Sweden in Sochi before the final group encounter against South Korea in Kazan on 27 June. Former Werkself winger Heung-Min Son is sure to be in their squad.
Admir Mehmedi, Tin Jedvaj, Lucas Alario and Wendell are also in with a shout of playing at the World Cup. Mehmedi, who has won 56 caps for Switzerland to date, played for his country at the 2014 World Cup and Euro 2016. Switzerland are in Group E along with Brazil, who may have Bayer 04 defender Wendell in their squad . Up to now, he has made seven appearances for the Brazil U23s and he could see his dream of playing at the World Cup for the Selecao come true. The other two teams in the group are Costa Rica and Serbia.
Tin Jedvaj, who has eight caps for Croatia to date, and was at the European Championships in France, will do all he can to be in the squad going to Russia. He could face Leverkusen team-mate Lucas Alario as Croatia are also in Group D. Alario has made two full international appearances for the two-time World Cup winners. The other group opponents for Croatia and Argentina are Iceland and Nigeria.
32 teams are taking part in the World Cup in Russia in eight groups. The tournament starts on 14 June 2018 with the opening game between hosts Russia and Saudi Arabia and ends on 15 July 2018. The final will be played at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.
All the fixtures are available here: http://calovo.de/wm2018
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 2-1 win against FC Köln on the 18th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen are strengthening the squad for next season with the addition of Serbia U19 international Aleksa Damjanovic. The 17-year-old centre-forward is set to join the Bundesliga club in the summer from Serbian champions Red Star Belgrade. Damjanovic, who also has Austrian citizenship, has signed a long-term contract.
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Bayer 04 have secured the services of Serbia U19 international Aleksa Damjanovic for next season. The 17-year-old centre-forward will move from Red Star Belgrade to Leverkusen in the summer on a long-term contract. The 1.98 metre tall striker is regarded as one of the most promising attacking talents in Europe and has recently impressed with strong performances at both first team and youth level. Managing director sport Simon Rolfes and director of football Kim Falkenberg particularly praise his finishing, heading ability and physical presence in the penalty area.
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The Bayer 04 eSports team made a great start to the fifth and final showdown in the VBL Club Championship 2025/26! The Leverkusen players picked up nine points in the first three of six matches in the online preliminary round. Victories against VfL Wolfsburg, Eintracht Braunschweig and SpVgg Greuther Fürth not only put the Black and Reds in a good position to progress to the offline round. Valuable points were also collected for the overall table and direct entry into the final event of the German Club Championship.
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