UCL debuts and Youth League

The most successful year in the club history of Bayer 04, with winning the first Bundesliga title and the DFB Pokal, also saw many highlights in the youth teams. This included new league competitions for the oldest youth teams through to convincing wins in the UEFA Youth League plus Champions League debuts for two Bayer 04 youngsters. Away from the pitch there were also exciting, interesting and emotional stories – including a gold Fritz Walter medal award. A review of the U19s in 2024.

February: U19s return to league action

The U19s were back in the league action: the U19 team drew twice in February and picked up an important 2-0 win in the derby away to FC Köln.

March: U19s unbeaten in 2024 - Sydney FC at Kurtekotten

The U19s made a successful start in the league in 2024 going five games unbeaten in March. The month ended with an international exchange: The U19 team from Sydney FC in Australia enjoyed an eventful day at Bayer 04 during a tournament competition in Düsseldorf on the Easter weekend. Watching a Werkself first-team training session was followed by a match against the Leverkusen youth team at Kurtekotten. After a day under the Cross, the long-standing Bundesliga player Alexander Baumjohann, Head of Player Management at the A League club following on from two years as a player at Sydney FC, said: "The day was incredibly well organised by Bayer 04. I've never experienced anything in that form before. The club and the management looked after us brilliantly and our players, like us, were very impressed."

April: First league defeat of the season

The U19s went above Schalke 04 at the start of the month with a 3-2 win against the Royal Blues that was followed by a first league defeat of the year (a 2-1 loss at SC Verl). There was a second defeat in April but the Leverkusen U19s ended the month in second place.

May: U19 miss out on championship finals

While the U19s ended the last season in the U19 Bundesliga West in third placed they just missed out on participation in the finals for the German championship.

 

June: Runge takes the helm at U19s

In the middle of the month, after a break of several weeks, Bayer 04 announced changes in the coaching set-up in the youth teams for 2024/25. The biggest changes were in the oldest youth teams: Sergi Runge and Adrian Grümer

 – head and assistant coaches for the U17s in the previous season – took up the same positions with the U19 team. The U19 squad started the pre-season a few days after the announcement of the coaching changes with new signing and youth international Emmanuel Owen on board.

July: Gödde leaves Bayer 04 after 41 years as a coach and player

The beginning of July traditionally marks the start of the new season. Several coaches left the Performance Centre in the summer. In addition to Tobias Berg, René Färber and Tim Molowitz that included Achim Gödde (most recently assistant coach with the U11s) - after an impressive 41 years at the club. He started playing for the U19s at Bayer 04 in 1983 but had to retire from the game due to several knee injuries. Nevertheless, Gödde remained loyal to the club and worked for several youth teams as head and assistant coach. In recent years Gödde was a specialist defensive coach. Other announcements in July: The fixture list for the U19 team in the inaugural DFB Youth League was announced and the brothers Naba and Jeremiah Mensah signed long-term deals.

August: U19s start new national league competition

The two most senior Leverkusen youth teams started in the newly formed DFB Youth Leagues. The U19s played five league games in August and one four times after a narrow opening defeat and they beat Borussia Dortmund on penalties in the top match in the first round of the Youth DFB Pokal.

At the end of the month there was an interesting workshop in the press conference room at the BayArena: Hannes Wolf, youth training and development director at the DFB, updated the Bayer 04 youth coaches on training philosophy in Germany. The participants then worked together to adapt the concept to the work with the youth teams at the Werkself. Read on for more on the visit of the interim Werkself coach from March to June 2021 HERE.

September: Opening win in Youth League

The start of the 2024/25 league campaign. For the U19 team there was the opening match in the UCL Youth League. The most senior Leverkusen youth team travel to Rotterdam for Matchday 1 in the league phase of the Youth League. They played Feyenoord in front of a crowd of over 1,000. After 60 minutes and goals from Ben Hawighorst and Francis Onyeka there was a deserved 2-0 lead and the game ended in a 2-1 win securing the first three points in the international competition.

October: Goldmedaille für Onyeka - Fortbildung für Trainer aus der Region

A special award for a special youth player: Homegrown Bayer 04 youngster Francis Onyeka was awarded the DFB gold Fritz Walter medal (in the U17 category). The Fritz Walter medal is the most prestigious individual award in German youth football. What sporting managing director Simon Rolfes said about it and the Bayer 04 predecessors of Onyeka can be found HERE.

There was also good news on the pitch from a Black and Red perspective: The U19s built on their opening win in the Youth League with another victory in the home game against AC Milan (3-1). Later in the month there was a 1-1 draw away to Stade Brest giving Bayer 04 seven points from the first three games.

There were several other sporting highlights away from the Youth League in October: The U19s played SC Freiburg in the Round of 16 in the DFB Pokal (0-3) and that was followed by two league wins including a 4-2 victory in the derby against FC Köln.

November: Onyeka and Stepanov make Champions League debuts

The U19s only played one league game in this month (3-1 in Kaiserslautern) and moved into League A of the main round in the DFB Youth League.

There were two UEFA Youth League matches in November. The Runge team lost 4-1 at Liverpool after being 1-0 up – the first defeat in the fourth UYL clash of the season. As in Brest, Francis Onyeka was again in the senior squad. In the second defeat at the end of the month (0-1 against FC Salzburg) three youth players were not involved: Onyeka plus Artem Stepanov and Ben Hawighorst. The trio were in the Xabi Alonso squad in the evening. Stepanov and Hawighorst were in a UCL squad for the first time and it was the third call-up for Onyeka. He had not played before. That changed on 26 November: With the scoreline at 5-0, Stepanov came on for Patrik Schick (73') and Onyeka for Florian Wirtz (76’) to make their Champions League debuts at the BayArena. Unforgettable moments that show the achievement of youth development work under the Cross.

December: Just missed out on Youth League knockout rounds

The end of the year also brought big matches for the U19s. A 1-1 draw in the league against the unbeaten Borussia Mönchengladbach and the final two league matches in the group stage, that saw Bayer 04 finish in second place, was followed by a showdown in the Youth League. Inter Milan were the visitors in the final fixture in the league phase: Despite a good dsiplay the Runge team lost 1-0 to the Italian side who picked up a sixth win in their sixth game. A draw against Inter would have been enough to go through to the knockout stages. Nevertheless, Leverkusen as one of the youngest teams in the competition can be proud of their performances in the 2024/25 Youth League campaign.