A quintet from Leverkusen completed a perfect U19 EURO qualifying campaign with Germany, with three wins in seven days ensuring the group victory and with it a place in the finals in Lithuania (15 to 27 July). Captain Paulina Bartz particularly impressed in the games against Romania (2-0), Hungary (6-0) and Sweden (4-1) with a goal in each.
Her teammate Delice Boboy scored the fourth goal against Hungary just two minutes after coming on, shortly before assisting the fifth. In the first match she played the second half, while against the Swedes she came on after 62 minutes. Anne Moll was in goal for all three games, Julia Mickenhagen featured at left-back (46 minutes against Romania, 61 against Hungary and 90 against Sweden) and striker Estrella Merino Gonzalez also started all three matches, playing until the 72nd minute against Romania, the 71st against Hungary and the full 90 against Sweden, during which she provided the assist for the fourth goal. A sixth Leverkusen player could be part of the squad in Lithuania in 18-year-old Loreen Bender, who missed qualifying through injury.
Nothing has been decided yet in the senior Women's EURO qualifying. On the first two matchdays, two Werkself teammates came up against each other in Group 4 of League A, with Iceland's Karólína Lea Vilhjálmsdóttir kicking off against Polish duo Sylwia Matysik and Nikola Karczewska. And it was Iceland who came out on top, winning 3-0 with Vilhjálmsdóttir providing the assist for the third goal in the 66th minute. Matysik played the full game while Karczewska entered the fray on 76 minutes. The Poles were also left empty-handed after Matchday 2: in a 3-1 defeat to Austria, Matysik was again on the pitch throughout and Karczewska stayed on the bench.
For Vilhjálmsdóttir, there was another internal battle just four days later as the midfielder came up against captain Elisa Senß in the Germany starting line-up in Aachen. Senß had been an unused substitute in the 3-2 win in Austria but played 77 minutes against Iceland as the DFB team won 3-1. Vilhjálmsdóttir played 90 minutes this time. Lilla Turányi and the Hungary team have one point on the board following a 1-1 draw against Azerbaijan and a 2-1 loss to Turkey. The Leverkusen centre-back played every minute.
Three other Werkself girls were involved in friendlies with their youth national teams. Sofie Zdebel was a 78th-minute substitute for Germany U20s in a 0-0 draw against USA but didn't feature in a 4-0 win over Canada. Julie Jorde and Emilie Bragstad were on their travels with Norway U23s. After the friendly against Netherlands was cancelled due to heavy snowfall, there was a 3-2 defeat to Sweden, in which the Bayer 04 duo started. Jorde, who came off after 89 minutes, provided the assist for the opening goal. It was the Norwegians' first defeat since autumn 2022.
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss against VfL Wolfsburg on the 2nd matchday of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga 2026/27.
In the 3-2 defeat at Bundesliga newcomers SV 07 Elversberg, the Werkself found the back of the net in the closing stages and, with a bit of luck, could still have equalised. “Today, our play wasn’t good enough, particularly when it came to the basics,” said head coach Carles Martínez. Like the boss, Ibrahim Maza also wants to learn from the match and look ahead: “Next week, people should be able to see from the very first minute that we want it more than our opponents.” The Werkself review on the Bundesliga opener in 2026/27.
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No points to start the league campaign: Bayer 04 lost 3-2 away to newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg in the first Bundesliga match of the 2026/27 campaign. Two quick-fire goals from Lukas Petkov (8’) and Cole Campbell (10’) gave the hosts an early lead, before David Mokwa scored the Saarland side’s third shortly after half-time (46’). In the closing stages, the Werkself rallied and staged a late comeback with goals from Patrik Schick (77’) and Christian Kofane (90+1’), but the Black and Reds were denied an equaliser.
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The Black and Reds kick off the new Bundesliga campaign today, Saturday 29 August (kick-off 15:30 CEST), away to newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg – and the Werkself will come up against a familiar face who is currently causing a stir at ‘Elv’. For an affordable and easy journey to the Saarland, the 1,600 travelling fans can still use the WERKSELFgo car-share platform. Today’s matchday news..
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The European jersey has been launched, the UEL opponents have been drawn – and anticipation for the European campaign is running high. To mark the occasion, an autograph session was held on Friday afternoon, 28 August, at the Fanwelt with current Werkself player Montrell Culbreath and official club legend Paulo Sergio.
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