19-year-old Bender provided the assist for Sophie Nachtigall to score with a header at 2-0 with a wonderful cross from the right. Two minutes later, she was unmarked in front of the Argentina keeper Paulina Aprile and was able to score herself with a volley to make it 3-0. The other goals for the Germany U20 team at the El Techo Stadium in the Colombian capital Bogota were scored by Matilda Janzen (6’), Sophie Nachtigall (37’) and Cora Zicai (69’). The consolation goal for Argentina was scored by Delfina Lombardi.
Progress to the quarter-finals rules out Bender and Zdebel for the first home fixture for the Bayer 04 Women in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga against Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday, 15 September (kick-off: 15.00 CEST) at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium.
Germany face the USA on Monday night, 16 September (kick-off: 01.00 CEST) at the Estadio Olimpico Pascual Guerrero in Cali. The semi-finals are on 18/19 September and the final on Sunday, 22 September (kick-off: 23.00 CEST). All the matches are broadcast live via a free streaming service at FIFA+.
Strengthening the Bayer 04 Leverkusen youth teams: Konstantinos Kotsifakis will join the Werkself from Bundesliga 2 club Hertha Berlin for the 2026/27 season, where he will be a permanent member of the Leverkusen U19 coaching set-up. The German-Greek will also take on an operational role in coaching the Bayer 04 Future Team. The 29-year-old was most recently head coach of the U17s at Hertha Berlin.
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Another award for the Bayer 04 head groundsman and staff: After coming top in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, the BayArena pitch came second in the Bundesliga Pitch of the Year ranking for the 2025/26 season. VfL Wolfsburg secured the top spot this year, with TSG Hoffenheim in third place.
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Opening opponents, derby weekends, the opponents in the season finale: This information and more will be available to Bayer 04 fans on Thursday, 2 July, when the 2026/27 Bundesliga fixture list is published.
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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 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 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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