Five Leverkusen players have been called up to the Germany U23 squad for the second set of international fixtures. In addition to Kristin Kögel and Katharina Piljic, who were already away with the new junior team in October, Germany coach Kathrin Peter has included the former U20 internationals Sofie Zdebel and Loreen Bender plus central defender Selina Ostermeier in her squad of 23. After talking to Bayer 04, Bender will not take up the invitation due to illness but her teammate Julia Mickenhagen is in the squad.
The as yet unbeaten Germany U23 side are next set to play Spain in Unterhaching. Tickets for the match are available at the DFB ticket portal. That is followed four days later by an away game against Belgium in Tubize. In October, the team made a successful start with a 3-0 win against France and a 2-2 draw in Italy.
The Werkself are also represented in the Germany U19 squad by two players: Estrella Merino Gonzalez and Delice Boboy, who made their first starts in the 1-0 win in the DFB Pokal Round of 16 tie against Turbine Potsdam, are in the squad of 21 for a four nation tournament at the Sportschule Wedau. The games against Kosovo, Greece and Denmark in Group 1 mark the start of the Euro qualifiers. The tournament will be played in Romania in the summer.
Two Bayer 04 teammates will face each other in Murcia in Spain: Cornelia Kramer with Denmark will meet Karolina Lea Vilhjalmsdottir in a friendly against Iceland. The 21-year-old Kramer stood out in her debut for the senior team at the end of October. Two minutes after coming on as a substitute in the game against the Netherlands, the striker scored on 87 minutes to make it 2-1. Before the clash with Kramer, Vilhjalmsdottir is set to play in a friendly against Canada at the same venue. Emilie Bragstad and Julie Jorde are away with the Norway U23 team. The Leverkusen duo play the Netherlands in a friendly.
Overview of call-ups:
Cornelia Kramer (Denmark)
2/12: Denmark vs Iceland (Friendly)
Karolina Lea Vilhjalmsdottir (Iceland)
29/11: Canada vs Iceland (Friendly)
2/12: Denmark vs Iceland (Friendly)
Emilie Bragstad, Julie Jorde (Norway U23)
2/12: Netherlands vs Norway (Friendly)
Kristin Kögel, Julia Mickenhagen, Selina Ostermeier, Katharina Piljic, Sofie Zdebel (Germany U23)
28/11: Germany vs Spain (Friendly)
2/12: Belgium vs Germany (Friendly)
Delice Boboy, Estrella Merino Gonzalez (Germany U19)
27/11: Germany vs Kosovo (Euro qualifier)
30/11: Germany vs Greece (Euro qualifier)
3/12: Denmark vs Germany (Euro qualifier)
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 as he worked 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 personalised 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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