Regional awards for two Bayer 04 women's players: Bundesliga debutant Julia Mickenhagen and captain Elisa Senß were successful at the sports awards in their home districts. Mickenhagen, from Wipperfürth, who made her senior debut for the Black-and-Reds in the 2-1 win at 1. FC Nürnberg in February, finished second in the voting in the Oberbergischer Kreis.
Midfielder Senß, a Germany international since December and candidate for the Olympics squad, came out on top from the five nominees in the Oldenburg district and was crowned 'Sportswoman of the Year' for the first time.
There was something to smile about for at least one Bayer 04 player in last Friday's disappointing 1-0 defeat at RB Leipzig: Sofie Zdebel, who made her Bundesliga debut in March 2021, registered her 50th competitive appearance for the works club at the age of just 19. She's the fifth player from the current squad to reach this figure, after Melissa Friedrich (98 appearances), Kristin Kögel (87), Lilla Turányi (82) and Sylwia Matysik (64). Friederike Repohl is likely to be the next to join the 50 club. The goalkeeper, who extended her contract at the end of March, is currently on 46 appearances for Bayer 04.
In the U17 Bundesliga West/Southwest, it's set to be an extremely exciting final matchday with no fewer than five teams still in with a chance of finishing top and thereby qualifying for the finals for the national championship. The Bayer 04 U17 side, coached by Aleksandar Vukicevic, are lingering in fifth place with 35 points after a 2-0 defeat at 1. FFC Kaiserslautern and host leaders Borussia Mönchengladbach (36 points) on Saturday 27 April (14:00 CEST) at the Performance Centre at Kurtekotten. Only the winner of the regional division qualifies for the semi-final against SpVg Aurich.
Last season, Vukicevic's team won the final against the same opponents to secure the first U17 girls' title in the history of Bayer 04.
Bundesliga champions Bayer 04 have also dominated the division’s Team of the Season after football fans around the world named Jonathan Tah, Alejandro Grimaldo, Jeremie Frimpong, Granit Xhaka, Florian Wirtz and Victor Boniface in the Bundesliga’s best XI for 2023/24, in cooperation with EA Sports.
Show moreBayer 04 Women suffered just their second home defeat of the season on Matchday 20 in the Google Pixel Bundesliga, going down 2-1 to Bayern Munich on Saturday afternoon. Nikola Karczewska’s consolation goal in the hour mark wasn’t enough to complete a comeback as the visitors wrapped up the title for the second year in a row. Leverkusen remain on 28 points.
Show moreBayer 04 Women host Bayern Munich at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Saturday (kick-off: 12pm CEST) facing a familiar scenario. The visitors have the chance to be crowned champions in the Google Pixel Bundesliga, just like then they last came to Leverkusen 12 months ago. A goalless draw on that occasion saw Robert de Pauw’s side delay the title celebrations, and they want to do the same again with three games to go.
Show moreOnly a few hours after the Werkself’s 2-0 win away at Roma in the UEFA Europa League semi-final first leg, attentions turned to the next game as Bayer 04 visit Eintracht Frankfurt for Bundesliga Matchday 32 on Sunday (kick-off: 5.30pm CEST). Speaking at his press conference in Rome shortly before returning to Leverkusen on Friday morning, head coach Xabi Alonso talked about the strengths of six-placed Frankfurt and how the team will handle his touchline suspension.
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