Filip Milojevic was involved in EURO qualifying with Austria U19s against Kosovo (0-1), Slovenia (2-0) and Spain (1-2). The Leverkusen defender was an ever-present in all three matches but couldn't help his side to qualify for this summer's tournament.
Noah Pesch and Croatia U19s, meanwhile, took on Germany (2-1), Turkey (1-2) and Romania (0-1) in their group. Pesch also played every minute as the Croatian youngsters missed out on participation in the finals.
Arjanit Fazlija and Kosovo U19s came up against Milojevic's Austria (1-0), Spain (1-2) and Slovenia (0-2). Fazlija came off the bench in all three games having recently recovered from injury.
Switzerland had a place at the EURO in the bag after the first two qualifiers. Fit-again Isaiah Okafor didn't feature in the 1-0 win over Latvia but played the duration of the 2-0 victory against North Macedonia. However, in the third game against Ukraine, in which Okafar was substituted off in the 54th minute, the Nati youngsters lost 3-0 and also failed to qualify.
The German U17 side were involved in European qualifying, too. Coach Michael Prus included Leverkusen trio Naba Mensah, Montrell Culbreath and Francis Onyeka for the fixtures in Portugal. Onyeka played 90 minutes in the 3-3 draw against Croatia and put in an impressive display, setting up one goal and scoring the final one from a penalty. Culbreath entered the fray just after the hour mark and earned the aforementioned penalty, while Mensah watched from the bench.
That draw was followed by a 2-0 win over Republic of Ireland. Onyeka, who came off in added time, again set up one goal and scored another. Culbreath was on the pitch until the 65th minute, being replaced by Mensah.
Then a place in this summer's EURO was on the line in the match against Portugal - and the German U17s missed out after a 3-2 defeat to the hosts and Croatia's comfortable win over Ireland in the other game. Onyeka, who headed against the bar with the score at 1-1, played 84 minutes. Culbreath and Mensah also started and went off in the closing stages.
In the same competition, Kerim Alajbegovic with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Marton Szep with Hungary were battling for a place at the EURO - and they too failed to progress. Alajbegovic played every minute against Poland (1-4), Czech Republic (0-2) and Belarus (3-1), scoring a brace in the latter. Szep and Hungary, meanwhile, lost to France (1-2), England (0-5) and Northern Ireland (1-3). Having not featured in the first game, Szep went the distance against England and came off after around an hour against Northern Ireland.
Artem Stepanov and Ukraine U17s will be at this summer's finals in Cyprus, though, after coming out on top against Greece, Switzerland Slovakia in their qualifying group by an aggregate score of 8-0.
The DFB's U16 age group played two games against Italy in Pirmasens. In the first encounter, which Germany won 3-0, centre-back Ben Hawighorst impressed as captain, while Jeremiah Mensah was a second-half substitute. The second clash ended in an even more emphatic 5-0 victory. Hawighorst played the full match again and Mensah's work was done after an hour.
Werkself player Montrell Culbreath and Bayer 04 loanee Francis Onyeka are part of Germany's final squad for the U19 European Championships this summer. The tournament is in Wales from 24 June to 12 July.
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Bayer 04 are away to third-division club SV Wehen Wiesbaden in the first round of the 2026/27 DFB Pokal. That was the outcome of the draw on Saturday night, 6 June, at the German Football Museum in Dortmund. The Werkself first round tie will be played between 21 and 24 August. The exact date has yet to be finalised.
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Carles Martìnez is raring to go. The 42-year-old speaks in his first interview in Leverkusen about the club's development to date and how he wants to build on it. He describes his previous work in France, Kuwait, Qatar and his native Barcelona, his experience in developing young players, and the key steps between now and the start of pre-season training.
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New Bayer 04 head coach Carles Martínez has arrived in Leverkusen! At midday on Friday, the 42-year-old spoke in a press conference at the BayArena about his philosophy and his aims. Managing director sport Simon Rolfes also discussed the reasons for appointing the former Toulouse boss.
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