'FCT' is an abbreviation that has caused one or other footballer to begin sweating before the start of a training session. Understandably so. Football conditioning training is about pushing the players to their physical limits and maximising their fitness. As with this morning, when Peter Bosz divided his players up into three teams with seven outfield players to play matches against each other. After the warm-up and a range of passing drills and positional moves, the games lasted for 40 minutes: yellow against red, yellow against blue and blue against red. The games lasted three minutes each with rolling subs. Under blue skies with a temperature of 26 degrees. No effort was spared. Urged on by Peter Bosz and his assistants Hendrie Krüzen and Xaver Zembrod on the touchlines. It lasted until the players started to clearly appear tired.
"The fact several players were laid out on the ground at the end shows they gave 100 per cent," said the satisfied Dutchman afterwards. "We are working with different players – what the limit is for one player is perhaps too little for the next or even too much. That's why several players completed sprints beforehand. We have to try and differentiate and find the right balance. And I think we achieved that today," said Bosz. No pain, no gain. Many a Werkself pro can be delighted to have survived the toughest session of the week. The mini tournament was won by the red team consisting of Niklas Lomb, Ayman Azhil, Lars Bender (Cem Türkmen), Karim Bellarabi, Aleksandar Dragovic, Joel Pohjanpalo and Daley Sinkgraven.
Rudi Völler joined the Bayer 04 group around midday. The sporting managing director of Bayer 04 arrived at the team hotel just before lunch. The route would not have been a problem for him as the former sporting director has been present every year since the first visit in 2013. "We all feel very much at home here," said the 59-year-old who was more than happy to field questions from the media representatives. Possible transfer activity was the main interest. "We made the most important decisions a couple of weeks ago," said Völler talking about the transfer of Kerem Demirbay and the retention of Kai Havertz. "Everything else we are doing now is fine tuning. Where can we improve? How can we strengthen?" Those questions are occupying the management at the moment who, according to the 1990 World Cup winner, are united: "We've more to do yet."
Another familiar face called in on the Werkself on Tuesday: Franco Foda, captain of the DFB Cup winning side of 1993. Since 2018 he has been working with the former Stuttgart man Imre Szabics in coaching the Austrian national team with Julian Baumgartlinger and Aleksandar Dragovic established members of that squad. Foda and Szabics not only dropped in on the morning session at the Alois Latini Stadium but also visited the team HQ to meet up with their international charges in the lobby.
Talking about Julian Baumgartlinger. While his team-mates had time off after lunch, Baumi continued to work on his comeback. After the 31-year-old suffered inflamation in his foot, the Austria captain has had to ease off and is still not able to take part in full training. Nevertheless, he joined the trip to his home country to work on his return alongside his team-mates. The Werkself number 15 worked in the hotel fitness facilities; in the afternoon he completed a 70-minute special session with the ball under the guidance of head physio Sven Elsinger.
The time, where Baumi was working hard in the afternoon sun over the Salzburger Land, was used by others to be active on the pitch. The Black and Red team assistants formed a group that put on their boots along with sporting director Simon Rolfes and team manager Hans-Peter Lehnhoff for a kick-about at the Alois Latini Stadium. The two former midfielders and Bayer 04 legends again amply demonstrated they have not forgotten anything about playing the game.
The Bayer 04 women’s team secured a win in the friendly during the international break. Without a total of eight international players, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team defeated Bundesliga 2 side Borussia Mönchengladbach 3–1 at the Kurtekotten Training Centre, thanks to goals from Lobke Loonen (1’, penalty), Caroline Kehrer (41') and Valentina Mädl (66').
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Bayer 04 will have to manage without striker Christian Kofane in the coming weeks. The 20-year-old sustained a muscle injury to his left thigh on international duty with the Cameroon national team during the recent international break. This will prevent him from playing in the upcoming Werkself matches.
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FSV Mainz 05 went into the international break on the back of an away win at Borussia Mönchengladbach. Currently sixth in the table, the Rheinhessen side – who have been impressive on the road – now aim to continue their good start to the Bundesliga campaign at home when they face the Werkself on Saturday, 10 October (kick-off: 15:30 CEST). In terms of squad selection, Urs Fischer once again has more options at his disposal. Up front, the Mainz coach is likely to continue relying on what is currently the league’s most successful strike partnership. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Exciting experiences and exclusive insights into the Werkself and the BayArena awaited the young footballers from the BA04 Football Academy Guangzhou in China during their visit to the Rhineland this week. As well as taking part in a joint training session with the Bayer 04 Football Academy, the youngsters marvelled at the Bundesliga club’s stadium during a guided tour. The highlight of the visit was a private press conference with former Bayer 04 striker Stefan Kießling, during which he shared tips from his own career with the young players. On Saturday afternoon, 10 October, the group will round off their visit by supporting the Werkself in the away match in Mainz.
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Fans ask, Carolin Simon answers: As part of Bayer 04’s second Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit, the Leverkusen captain took questions from the community. The full-back, who returned to the club this summer after ten years away, set aside an hour and a half for the Q&A session with fans, offering a very personal insight into, amongst other things, her daily life as a footballer and her role as captain, as well as her passion for Pokémon.
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