FC Porto are currently on an eleven-day training camp at the Kamen-Kaiserau Sports Centre near Dortmund. Their squad includes internationally famous players like Iker Casillas, Hector Herrera and Ruben Neves. FC Porto have regularly played European football for years. They lifted the European Cup in 1987 and the Champions League in 2004 plus the UEFA Cup and the Europa League (2003, 2011). Porto have won the Portuguese league 31 times and 16 domestic cup competitions.
The team us managed by Nuno Santo. The young Portuguese coach is successor to Julen Lopetegui who is moving to manage the Spanish national team. Under Lopetegui FC Porto finished third in the league behind Benfica and Sporting Lisbon last term putting them in the play-offs for the Champions League.
Bayer 04 are familiar with that scenario from the previous two Champions League campaigns. This year is a different story with pre-season building up to competitive matches in the DFB Cup and then the Bundesliga. This fifth friendly may give fans the opportunity to see Tin Jedvaj, Admir Mehmedi and Charles Aránguiz plus U19 European Championship players Lukas Boeder and Benny Henrichs in action. All five returned to training this week.
Advice to fans
Hosts SV Bergisch Gladbach 09 have announced that nationwide stadium bans apply to Wednesday night's match against FC Porto at the Belkaw Arena.
Following Patrik Schick, Mark Flekken, Ibrahim Maza and Kerim Alajbegovic earlier this week, the next World Cup participant is back on the training ground in Leverkusen: On Thursday 30 July, Malik Tillman rejoined the squad, completing his first training session under head coach Carles Martínez.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of the 4-0 victory in the friendly match against KRC Genk...
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In their third friendly of this pre-season, Bayer 04 played on home soil for the first time – and won there too! The Werkself claimed a comfortable 4-0 victory against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion. Jeanuel Belocian (9’) and Nathan Tella (42’) gave a dominant Leverkusen a 2-0 lead at the break, which Afonso Moreira (51’) and Christian Kofane (53’) doubled after the break. Among the many second-half substitutions was Patrik Schick, who made his first friendly appearance of the summer.
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The Werkself are finally back. On Saturday 8 August, Bayer 04 kick off the 2026/27 campaign with their opening match. But there’s far more than just a double-header in store for Werkself supporters. True to the motto ‘One day. Two teams. One club’, the BayArena and the Ulrich Haberland Stadium will be transformed into a world of excitement.
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The Werkself continue their 2026/27 pre-season preparations with their third friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion on Wednesday 29 July (kick-off 15:00 CEST). Werkself-TV is broadcasting the match live and in full in a stream from 14:50 CEST...
