Germany with Wamser and Austria with Wenger made completely different starts to qualifying for the World Cup in Brazil (24 June to 25 July 2027). While Germany topped Group A4 after two impressive victories against Slovenia (5-0) and Norway (4-0), Austria lost 1-0 to both Norway and Slovenia.
That is one of the reasons why there are clear favourites in the head-to-head games. First, Germany coach Christian Wück's team host their neighbours in Nuremberg on Tuesday, 14 April. Then, four days later on Saturday, 18 April, Wamser and Co. are away in Ried, Upper Austria. As with the last training camp, midfielder Katharina Piljic is on standby for Germany as is forward Valentina Mädl for Austria.
Meanwhile, Cornelia Kramer returns to the Denmark squad. The Scandinavians collected four points from their first two matches without the striker. Now fully fit after muscular problems, the 23-year-old, who has five international caps so far, is back in the squad for the games against Sweden and Italy.
As in March, when the Germany U23s team missed out on a place in the final four of the international tournament, Bayer 04 once again form the largest group in coach Michael Urbansky's team: Loreen Bender, Selina Ostermeier, Piljic and Sofie Zdebel return and Estrella Merino Gonzalez, who was recently absent due to injury, is also back. Julia Mickenhagen, who was called up to replace her team-mate last time out, is on standby again. The same applies to goalkeeper Rafaela Borggräfe. In the qualifiers in Spain, the U23s first play Belgium on Sunday 12 April and then either Italy or Portugal on Thursday 16 April.
Sana Coskun from the Leverkusen U23s in the Regionalliga West is also on international duty. The 17-year-old, who made her first three Bundesliga appearances this season, is taking part in a qualifying tournament with Turkey in Albania for this year's U19 European Championships (27 June to 10 July in Bosnia). The team will face Liechtenstein, Albania and Montenegro.
International call-ups:
Cornelia Kramer (Denmark)
Tuesday, 14/04: Sweden vs Denmark (World Cup qualifier)
Saturday, 18/04: Denmark vs Italy (World Cup qualifier)
Carlotta Wamser (Germany)
Tuesday, 14/04: Germany vs Austria (World Cup qualifier)
Saturday, 18/04: Austria vs Germany (World Cup qualifier)
Claudia Wenger (Austria)
Tuesday, 14/04: Germany vs Austria (World Cup qualifier)
Saturday, 18/04: Austria vs Germany (World Cup qualifier)
Estrella Merino Gonzalez, Katharina Piljic, Loreen Bender, Selina Ostermeier and Sofie Zdebel (Germany U23s)
Sunday, 12/04: Germany vs Belgium (international qualifying round)
Thursday, 16/04: Italy/Portugal vs Germany (international qualifying round)
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04 Women's 0-1 loss at Bayern Munich in the round of 16 of the women's DFB-Pokal 2026/27
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career working as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personal Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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Having previously recorded six consecutive home wins across all competitions, Bayer 04 suffered their first home defeat of 2026/27 as they went down 4-2 to VfB Stuttgart in the Bundesliga on Matchday 8. The visitors capitalised on their first two chances to score, with Ermedin Demirovic and Jamie Leweling finding the net in the first half. Although Patrik Schick got a goal back in the first half, Bilal El Khannouss and Demirovic again added further goals for Stuttgart. Bayer 04 didn’t give up, but Ibrahim Maza’s goal proved little more than a consolation.
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Fans at the BayArena got to enjoy a spectacle on Wednesday as the Werkself came from behind to beat Nürnberg 5-2 in the DFB Pokal. Now with the sixth home game of the season, can Bayer 04 maintain their perfect record in Leverkusen as VfB Stuttgart come to town in the Bundesliga on Saturday (15:30 CET)? The visitors have had issues domestically this term, sitting in 15th place, although they have had much better results in the UEFA Champions League. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the Matchday 8 encounter…
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The Bayern Munich women’s football team are unbeaten in all domestic competitions in the last 62 matches. On Sunday (15:00 CET), the Bayer 04 women’s team will make their next attempt to end the holders unbeaten run in the DFB Pokal Round of 16 tie. For coach Roberto Pätzold, there are a number of factors that give the Werkself cause for optimism despite the high-calibre opposition.
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