Panos, which 04 places do you definitely have to visit in Greece?
Retsos: Of course, there's Athens and Thessaloniki, the second biggest city in the country. Then there's definitely Crete and the Peloponnese, the peninsula in the south of the mainland.
What do you think is typically Greek?
Retsos: Eating together with the extended family with nanna, grandad, uncles, cousins and so on. The Greeks make a lot of time for that.
Where did you grow up?
Retsos: I was born in Johannesburg in South Africa but moved to Greece at the age of two and I grew up near Athens, to be more exact in Agios Dimitrios, a place south of Athens.
Who do you think is the greatest Greek ever?
Retsos: Aristotle, for me our greatest philosopher.
Your favourite Greek dish?
Retsos: Pastitsio, our type of pasta bake. It tastes better than Italian lasagne...
What don't you like so much about your fellow countrymen?
Retsos: Well, sometimes we are rather disorganised. In Germany nearly every family has an itinerary for the whole week – I like that. It's completely different in Greece. We don't look so far ahead and live life more day by day.
Your secret tip for tourists?
Retsos: I'll have to pass on that one. But although people might groan: You have to see the Acropolis! That's definitely not a secret tip but it's an incredibly impressive structure.
What smell do you associate with Greece?
Retsos: The sea air I breathe when I drive on a coast road with the window open.
Your favourite football club in Greece?
Retsos: Olympiacos, my hometown club.
With their wonderful goals, Martin Terrier and Florian Wirtz are up for the Bundesliga Goal of the Year 2025. Voting for fans will run exclusively via the official Bundesliga app until Sunday, 4 January.
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Last-minute ecstasy, huge disappointment and a historic performance on the European stage - 2025 was a real emotional roller coaster, especially for the U19s. A rousing run in the knockout phase secured the team a place in the final of the German championships, where they lost by the narrowest of margins. Despite the departure of several key players, the young Werkself team quickly regained their usual strength and qualified for the knockout rounds in the UEFA Youth League for the first time at the end of the year. In 2025, youngsters Jeremiah Mensah and Montrell Culbreath made their debuts in the Bundesliga, the DFB Pokal and the UEFA Champions League. The other youth teams also contributed great performances and a number of trophies to the collective Black and Red success, while the successful Bayer 04 Future Kids project broke new ground. Read on for the 2025 review of the youth teams.
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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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A memorable 12 months: 2025 was a year marked by success, intense competition and groundbreaking innovations for the #B04eSports team. After ending the 2024/25 season as runners-up, the Leverkusen-based console pros got down to business in a new, completely restructured season model, in which showdowns rather than divisions were the decisive factor on the road to the final round of the German Club Championship. Bayer 04 quickly earned a place in the history books of the most prestigious competition in German eSports and secured some valuable advantages for the coming year. Bayer04.de takes a look back at 12 months full of passion and the determination to take the next step.
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Sustainability once again had many faces at Bayer 04 in 2025: In community activity, the club supported countless regional campaigns, including the Leverkusener Tafel, the Frauenennotruf Leverkusen e.V. and the homeless aid organisation "Kältegang". But the Black and Reds have also been involved in good causes around the world - including the Young Coaches training programmes in Uganda and Ecuador plus the Genuine World Cup in the USA, where the Inclusion Werkself competed. Bayer 04 was also fully committed to the environment and underwent external and independently certification in accordance with the European environmental management standard EMAS, for example, to analyse and optimise the club’s environmental efforts. Looking back at sustainability in 2025.
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