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.
Tickets are on sale for the last two Bayer 04 Women's team home games in 2025. Fans can now purchase tickets for the matches at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium against RB Leipzig and the final fixture of the year in the Rückrunde opener against German champions Bayern Munich. The latest information at a glance.
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Eliminated ahead of the offline round: On Tuesday, 18 November, the Leverkusen console pros played the two remaining matches in the online preliminary round of showdown two. After picking up six points from the first four games last week, the #B04eSports team bagged another three in the two final duels - but it wasn't enough. The Leverkusen team missed out on a place in the offline knockout round, which will take place in this second showdown on 23 November in Frankfurt am Main.
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The VBL Club Championship by WOW 2025/26 continues today, Tuesday 18 November, with the last two of the six online preliminary round matches in the second showdown. Starting at 18:00 CET, Bayer 04 face Karlsruher SC, followed by Borussia Mönchengladbach at 19:00 CET. The games will be streamed live on the Bayer 04 app and on the club Twitch channel. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Bayer 04 has presented the groups on the Monheim council with extensively revised proposals for the planned Campus. As part of constructive discussions, the club presented a plan to the CDU, SPD, Greens, FDP, PETO and the Left Party that envisages a one-third reduction in the area of the site on Alfred-Nobel-Strasse. The distance to neighbours will be increased by almost 60 percent. The green corridor will therefore be significantly larger than previously planned. Here are the main changes.
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A disappointing Sunday afternoon in the Hanseatic city: The Bayer 04 Women missed out on a place in the DFB Pokal quarter-finals after a penalty shoot-out at Hamburger SV. After more than 120 minutes of play, coach Roberto Pätzold's team lost 4-2 on penalties to the Bundesliga newcomers in front of 3,993 spectators at the Volksparkstadion. Julia Mickenhagen's brilliant strike to level at 1-1 on 73 minutes was not enough for the Werkself in this tie. The Bayer Leverkusen Women’s team reached quarter-finals in both of the previous two seasons.
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