A trio started the new campaign in the UEFA Women's Nations League with two games each. In League A Group 2, Karolina Lea Vilhjalmsdottir collected a point with Iceland against Switzerland (0-0) and she scored at 1-2 in a 3-2 defeat against France – her eleventh international goal in 49 games. The 23-year-old played the full 90 minutes in both games.
The same applies to Lilla Turanyi, who celebrated a first victory with Hungary at the first attempt in League B Group 3. The central defender opened the scoring in a 2-0 win against Serbia (57’) – her sixth international goal. Turanyi and Co. were left empty-handed against Finland after a 1-0 defeat.
Cornelia Kramer and Denmark also have three points after two matches in the Nations League. The striker came off the bench on 85 minutes in a 2-1 defeat against Sweden and she was an unused substitute in the 3-1 win against Italy.
Three Leverkusen players experienced an emotional roller coaster with the Germany U23 team. Captain Kristin Kögel, central defender Selina Ostermeier and midfielder Sofie Zdebel first secured a 3-2 win in Walsall against an England team including their Werkself teammate Ruby Grant. The trio played the full game for Germany. Grant was substituted on 59 minutes and she came on for the final minutes for England on Tuesday night in a 1-0 win against France.
Four days after the win against England, Germany suffered a 4-1 defeat against the Netherlands. Kögel, Ostermeier and Zdebel were again in the starting line-up. Kögel and Zdebel played for 45 minutes, Ostermeier 61. Julia Mickenhagen was also in the international squad but returned to Leverkusen after the England game without playing due to a knock. Katharina Piljic, who was also called up, did not travel due to her ankle injury. And Emilie Bragstad played for the Norway U23s in a friendly. The Werkself central defender went the full distance in a 1-0 win in Sweden.
The Germany U19 squad successfully completed a first training camp after the good start to the Euro qualifiers. The team including the Werkself players Estrella Merino Gonzalez and Delice Boboy beat Italy and Sweden 2-0 in La Nucia in Spain. The two Leverkusen players started both games, Merino Gonzalez played 72 and 75 minutes, Boboy 78 and 60. The second qualification phase will be played in April again in groups of four. In contrast to the first round of games, only the group winners will qualify for the 2025 Euro finals in Poland.
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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