From London to Leverkusen: Callum Hudson-Odoi leaves his birthplace for the first time in his career as a football player to join Bayer 04. He joined Chelsea at the age of six and his Ghanaian father Bismark Odoi was also a professional footballer in Ghana. Callum progressed through all the youth teams at the Blues over the following eleven years. He made his debut for the U18s at the age of 15, the U23s at 16, and he finally stepped up to the senior squad in 2017.
The fast and technically gifted Hudson-Odoi made his Premier League debut on 31 January 2018 under the then Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte in a 3-0 defeat at home to Bournemouth. He made one more league appearance in his first season.
The right footer went on to play more frequently in England's top flight in the following years. He played nine games in the UEFA Europa League in 2018/19 and joined his teammates in celebrating winning the title after a 4-1 victory against Arsenal in the final. Hudson-Odoi played a significant role in Chelsea's European triumph with four goals and two assists.
The Londoner celebrated the biggest success of his short career to date in the following year by winning the UEFA Champions League. The winger played an important role in the 2020/21 Champions League campaign with two goals in seven games and, after beating Manchester City 1-0 in the final, he lifted the trophy together with Werkself home-grown player, scorer of the winner in the final, and teammate Kai Havertz. Callum also won the FIFA Club World Cup with the Blues.
Hudson-Odoi has learned one thing in particular in his time at Chelsea as he explained in an interview with fifa.com: "The mentality was for us to score goals or always look to finish. Team spirit was and is really important for that. You never play alone and success is only possible as a team."
At the age of 21, Hudson-Odoi can already look back at 72 appearances in the Premier League, 17 in the Champions League as well as nine in the Europa League.
Whenever the leading figures in European club football come together, Bayer 04 are right in the thick of it: At the 33rd General Assembly of the European Football Clubs (EFC) in Copenhagen, Fernando Carro, CEO, and Simon Rolfes, Managing Director Sport, discussed key sporting and economic issues for the future.
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Having progressed to the DFB Pokal Round of 16, the Bayer 04 Women do not have much time before their next Bundesliga fixture. On Friday night (18:30 CEST), coach Roberto Pätzold’s side kick off matchday six at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium against Werder Bremen – and they have a clear mission.
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Harry Gniech was born on 14 October 1951 in Leverkusen-Schlebusch. At the age of six, he joined SV Bayer 04, initially in the athletics section. The boy actually wanted to play football, but was only allowed to switch to the football team when he turned nine. Harry quickly established himself as a playmaker in midfield. Despite his talent, the path from the youth team to the first-team squad was a long one back then. In the 1973–74 season, his former U19 coach, Friedhelm Renno – who was by then in charge of Bayer 04’s first team – selected him for his first match with the professional squad.
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Henrique Adriano Buss, known as Henrique, was born on 14 October 1986 in Marechal Cândido Rondon, a town in the Brazilian state of Paraná. At the age of 13, he joined Coritiba FC and made the step up to the first team in 2006. Henrique helped the team gain promotion to the Brazilian top flight and then moved on to Palmeiras FC. After just five matches for his new club, the 1.85-metre-tall centre-back was signed by Barcelona in 2008 for ten million euros and loaned to Bayer 04 for one year for a fee of €400,000.
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