While the Bundesliga takes a break and the Bayer 04 pros left at home train as usual under the Bayer Cross, the nations have been battling for a place in next year's World Cup in Russia. We look at the second part of the international break from a Werkself perspective:
On Monday night, the Germany team under coach Joachim Löw continued their march through Group C. The group leaders, with a perfect record of wins to date, clocked up an impressive 6-0 victory against Norway. Julian Brandt, who earned his eleventh full cap three days ago in the 2-1 win against the Czech Republic with 60 minutes on the pitch, did not play against Norway as he joined Bernd Leno and Benjamin Henrichs on the subs' bench .
Switzerland are as good as through to the World Cup finals: With Admir Mehmedi in their ranks, the unblemished record of the Group B leaders was maintained with a 3-0 win for the second time in succession – the win against Andorra was followed this time by the same score away to Latvia. The Werkself striker played the full 90 minutes but did not find the back of the net.
The international fixtures have not been as successful for Julian Baumgartlinger, the captain of Austria. The 1-0 defeat in Wales on Saturday was followed by a 1-1 draw at home to Georgia on Tuesday night that almost certainly means their chance of making the World Cup finals has gone: Fourth in Group D, Austria are five points behind second spot with two games to play .
Vladlen Yurchenko and Bayer 04 new signing Panagiotis Retsos are still in with a shout of playing at the World Cup finals in Russia. However, Ukraine suffered a heavy blow on Tuesday night: Without Yurchenko, Ukraine lost 2-0 to Iceland in Group I and the Nordic team have now taken over their second place. A similar fate befell the home nation of Retsos. After his international debut on Thursday, the 19-year-old did not get on in the 2-1 defeat to Belgium on Sunday. Following the home defeat against the group leaders, Greece slipped from second to third in Group H.
Charles Aránguiz and Chile suffered a surprise 3-0 defeat to Paraguay on Friday. The 28-year-old picked up his fourth yellow card in the South America World Cup qualifiers that brought a one-match suspension. Aránguiz therefore left his national side early and was back training in Leverkusen on Tuesday.
The Germany U19s beat European Champions England 3-1 in a friendly on Tuesday. Bayer 04 youngster Kai Havertz picked up a booking in the first half and netted the final goal for Germany in added time at the end of the game. The two U19 players Atakan Akkaynak and Sam Schreck were on the sidelines against England.
The next international break is at the start of October 2017.
High spirits and previously untold stories: Around 100 Bayer 04 fans packed the Schwadbud fan pub in the east stand of the BayArena on Thursday evening to be there in person for the first instalment of the new series of events entitled “Rudi lädt ein” (Rudi invites you). They listened intently as long-serving Werkself players Gonzalo Castro and Stefan Kießling chatted with record appearance-maker Rüdiger Vollborn and presenter and stadium announcer Tobias Ufer about their many years together at the club, shared amusing anecdotes and revealed dressing room secrets. Anyone who missed the premiere can already look forward to the second instalment – on 12 May, Rudi will be testing the expert knowledge of Bayer 04 fans during a quiz night.
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The Bundesliga home game against VfL Wolfsburg in the first half of the season was one of those classic ‘days to forget’ for Bayer 04 Women. It started with goalkeeper Charlotte Voll being shown a red card in the first minute of the game, and following a further sending-off, coach Roberto Pätzold's 9-women side ended up losing 5-1 to last season's runners-up. At 18.30 CET on Sunday, they'll have the chance to exact revenge at the AOK Stadium - and pick up valuable points in the race for third place.
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Sofie Zdebel is up for the Goal of the Month award for February on ARD-Sportschau. Fans have until 21 March (19:00 CET) to vote for the Germany U23 international's volley to make it 2-0 in the Bayer 04 Women's derby against FC Köln (2-1).
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen are further expanding their partner network: The feed manufacturer PerNaturam is an official sponsor of the Bayer 04 Womens team. The partnership opens up a wide range of opportunities for the company to position its brand in the Bundesliga environment.
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Do you dream of wearing the Bayer cross on your chest? To play in black and red like your role models Loreen Bender, Cornelia Kramer, Kristin Kögel and co. from the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga? Then take your chance now! Our female youth teams are once again on the lookout for new talent. That's why Bayer 04 are organising a talent day on 12 April 2026 for the first time this year with trials for female juniors.
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