Merino Gonzalez, who signed her first professional contract in January 2023, has been with the Werkself since 2017 and U13 level. She was top scorer as Bayer 04 won the U17 Bundesliga in 2022/23 and has since made 49 senior appearances (two goals). The 18-year-old forward has started four out of six Bundesliga games this season as a full-back.
The fact that one of our own, who’s come through all our youth teams, has won this award is nice proof of our youth work and great acknowledgement for everyone who’s been involved in this development,” said Bayer 04 Women’s sporting director Achim Feifel. “At the same time, it’s also an incentive to us to further professionalise our youth section so we can continue to grow players like her in the future.”
The U19s golden medal went to Alara Sehitler of Bayern Munich, with bronze to Meppen’s Thea Farwick. Merino Gonzalez’s teammate Loreen Bender and Francis Onyeka of the men’s team, who is currently on loan at Bochum, had both won gold in the U19s and U17s categories respectively last year.
Leverkusen’s Fritz Walter Medal winners:
2025: Estrella Merino Gonzalez (U19/silver)
2024: Francis Onyeka (U17/gold), Loreen Bender (U19/gold)
2022: Florian Wirtz (U19/gold), Lisanne Gräwe (U19/gold), Clara Fröhlich (U17/gold)
2020: Florian Wirtz (U17/gold)
2018: Kai Havertz (U19/gold)
2016: Benjamin Henrichs (U19/gold), Kai Havertz (U17/silver), Nina Ehegötz (gold)
2015: Jonathan Tah (U19/gold)
2014: Julian Brandt (U18/gold); Levin Öztunali (U18/silver)
2013: Dominik Kohr (U19/bronze)
2012: Dominik Kohr (U18/bronze)
2011: Johanna Elsig (gold)
2010: Kolja Pusch (U17/bronze)
2008: Marcel Risse (U19/bronze); Richard Sukuta-Pasu (U18/bronze)
2007: Stefan Reinartz (U18/bronze); Nils Teixeira (U17/bronze)
From the 2027/28 season, the Women’s Bundesliga will be organised by an independent league association. Following the unanimous decision taken at the DFB Bundestag (national conference) on Friday afternoon, the league’s separation from the DFB is now official.
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Following the Bundesliga clash against RB Leipzig (Sunday, 20 September, 15:30 CEST), some of the Werkself first team players will be heading off for the first international break of the season. Here is an overview of the Bayer 04 players called up for their national teams and all the details of their upcoming matches.
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A special visit to the BayArena: 222 members from volunteer fire brigades in Leverkusen, the Rheinisch-Bergisch district and the Oberbergisch district watched the Werkself’s 2–0 home win over Slovenian champions NK Celje live in the stadium. Bayer 04 had invited them to the 2026/27 Europa League opener as a thank-you for their tremendous dedication. They watched the match together in Block F4.
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The Werkself were feeling quite satisfied following their 2–0 home win in their opening match of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League, particularly with the result. At the same time, players and coaches agreed that, in terms of their performance, there was “still room for improvement”, as Robert Andrich put it. For his part, Moussa Diaby emphasised the importance of the victory with which the team had kicked off the campaign, and spoke personally about how good it felt to have started in front of the “wonderful” Bayer 04 fans this Tuesday evening for the first time since his return. The Werkself review of the Europa League opener.
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