
As a farewell gift, Matthias Puchler, the legendary groundsman at the Alois Latini Stadium in Zell am See-Kaprun, presented Roger Schmidt and his players with pure quartz his grandfather found in the Alps. The Werkself were clearly moved by this generous act and showed their appreciation for ‘Matze’ with a tremendous round of applause.
Schmidt responds
It was an emotional farewell after a very busy week. Twelve strenuous sessions were completed, with two other activities away from the pitch that also stretched the Werkself. Schmidt declared his satisfaction with the tour in a final interview on Bayer 04 TV: “I see more and more players taking responsibility.”
Two days off
The Werkself finally returned to the Rhineland on Friday afternoon. The flight from Salzburg landed at Köln/Bonn airport and after a tough training session Roger Schmidt gave his squad the weekend off. The next training session at the BayArena is at 10.00 CET on Monday morning.
#B04inAustria – Review of training camp
Everything that happened in Austria last week relating to #Bayer04 and #Werkself is available to watch or read again >> here <<. Round the clock reports from the training camp are accessible via the hashtag #B04inAustria.


In the previous game against RB Leipzig in December last year, the Werkself turned came from behind to win 3-1 and further improved Leverkusen's already strong record against the Red Bulls. Montrell Culbreath stood out with his first goal on his debut for the Black and Reds. While the 18-year-old would certainly like to score a second goal against Leipzig on Saturday night, the attack-minded visitors come to the BayArena in confident mood after five Bundesliga victories in a row. The Nordkurve12 supporters group knows the Werkself will therefore once again be reliant on the vociferous support of the fans, and has once again called for the ‘Finally Red’ campaign in the run-in. Today’s matchday news.
Show more
Video games manufacturer Electronic Arts (EA), together with the German Football League (DFL), announced the top male and female selections for the 2025/26 Bundesliga season this week. Bayer 04 striker Vanessa Fudalla is in the starting eleven of the women's "Team of the Season". Alejandro Grimaldo and Aleix Garcia have been selected as bench players in the men's team.
Show more
This special event showed once again how strong Bayer 04 are as a team: As part of ‘BarmeniaGothaer gives joy’, the Werkself players Edmond Tapsoba, Ibrahim Maza and Christian Kofane supported the sale of individually designed T-shirts for a good cause at the Fanwelt on Thursday. Several hundred fans came to take part in the charity campaign. Leverkusen's main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer donated the proceeds to the Fondation Edmond Tapsoba, which helps people in Tapsoba's home country of Burkina Faso in their challenging everyday lives.
Show more
With three games to play before the end of the season, the Bayer 04 Women can break one record and equal another at SGS Essen. After three wins on the bounce, coach Roberto Pätzold's team are aiming to maintain the chance of third place in Sunday’s away game (14:00 CEST, Stadion an der Hafenstraße).
Show more
Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
Show more