After his left-foot shot into Manuel Neuer's net, the 22-year-old Jamaican turned to the corner flag and held up his fingers in the shape of a W. The reason behind the celebration is the song with the same name, W by Bailey's fellow compatriot and rapper Mikayla 'Koffee' Simpson. The lyric is about forgetting L for losing and instead choosing W for winning. "I very much like the song and the message behind it. That's why I celebrated like that," explained Bailey.
It's the record goalscorer's birthday. Ulf Kirsten scored 182 goals in 350 games for the Werkself – and that is the club record to date at Bayer 04. The striker played for Leverkusen for 13 years winning the DFB Cup in 1993 and losing the Champions League final against Real Madrid. Kirsten was the top scorer in the Bundesliga in 1992/93 (20 goals), 1996/97 and 1997/98 (22 goals both times). He hung up his boots in 2003 and then coached the Bayer 04 reserves for six years. The 'Schwatte' still plays for the Veterans team. Congratulations, Ulf!
As part of the first DFB leadership trip to the USA, the representatives from the Bundesliga club visited the Facebook HQ in Silicon Valley and the stadium of the San Francisco 49ers. Simon Rolfes, sporting director at Bayer 04: "I welcome the initiative of the DFB. In order to ensure the best possible future for German football, we definitely need to think outside the box." Tomorrow, the delegation – with plenty of new knowledge – will set off back to Germany.
Last weekend, Julian Baumgartlinger was not only able to celebrate victory against Bayern Munich but also his 200th appearance in Germany's top flight. The Austrian has made 76 appearances for Bayer 04. We say: Congratulations, Baumi!
It was one of the crucial incidents in the Bundesliga stunner for the Werkself at FC Bayern (final score: 2-1). A diagonal ball from Serge Gnabry, just before the half-time whistle, left Ivan Perisic with a tap-in into an empty net – however, the Werkself skipper Lars Bender made a last-ditch sliding tackle and was able to clear the danger. Bayer 04 went into the break with a 2-1 lead and the rest is history. His timely intervention has earned Bender a TOPPS NOW card with the title 'The Goal Saver'.
With the 400th addition of the football broadcast 'Zeigler's wonderful world of football' (WDR), a range of contemporaries congratulated presenter Arnd Zeigler with a video message. And the well-wishers also included the lads from the Werkself Radio – and there were also two surprise guests: Freddy Radeke and Jakob Leube, the presenters of 'Wumms! The Sports Show,' were also on the pitch at the BayArena. The latter congratulated Zeigler with a send up of Christian Streich.
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.
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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).
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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…
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From Ouagadougou to Leverkusen – and back: in March, Bayer 04 travelled with Edmond Tapsoba for a special project in his homeland Burkina Faso. The country where his roots and heart lie. The country where he’s more than a world-class defender: a symbol of hope and a role model for an entire generation. The result is a 45-minute documentary about Tapsoba’s long journey from Africa via Portugal to Leverkusen, which offers extraordinary, one-off and emotional insights.
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Edmond Tapsoba has signed an early extension to his contract with Bayer 04 Leverkusen. With two years left on his current deal, the 27-year-old Burkina Faso international has extended his contract until 30 June 2031. The centre-back joined as a young talent from Portuguese top-flight club Vitoria Guimaraes at the start of 2020.
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