After breakfast, the Werkself walked ten minutes to The Arch, The 192 metre tall monument on the banks of the Mississippi. A team photo was taken there first and then a group photo of all the travelling Leverkusen delegation.
While the players and coaching staff returned to the team hotel to prepare for the match, Brian the Lion began his exploration of St Louis. After visiting the Old Courthouse, Brian made his next stop at the Busch Stadium, home to the St. Louis Cardinals. At the fan shop of the MLB baseball team, he met Fredbird, his opposite number at the Cardinals, and the duo captured the moment for posterity with a photo. Brian then returned to the team hotel.
The stands were a hive of activity and in good mood with the aroma of burgers, hot dogs and pizza drifting through the VIP area. On the pitch, the two teams looked to create plenty of chances – the setting for the opening of the newly built CITYPARK Stadium in St. Louis could hardly have been better. Ahead of the game, both the American and German national anthems were sung and then the two teams came together for a joint group photo before kick-off.
After an evenly balanced start to the game, the Werkself went on the front foot as the game progressed to threaten the goal of former Dortmund keeper Roman Bürki. Callum Hudson-Odoi gave the Black and Reds a deserved lead on 36 minutes. Centre forward Adam Hlozek doubled the lead at 2-0 (44') just before the break and then made it 3-0 (51') after the restart. The convincing lead of the Bundesliga side did nothing to affect the atmosphere in the stands at the sold-out CITYPARK Stadium.
The action on the pitch settled down from that point but Bayer 04 keeper Niklas Lomb did make two impressive flying saves (72’, 73’). Then came the final whistle at the CITYPARK Stadium. For St. Louis CITY SC it was a successful test ahead of the first MLS season and a successful conclusion of the #Bayer04USATour for the Werkself. Here is the match report.
On the penultimate day of the #Bayer04USATour there is another special event on the agenda: a visit to the Ranken Jordan hospital. The Werkself players will spend time with the boys and girls at the charitable rehab clinic for children with and without the ball. The evening will end for everybody with the NHL game between St. Louis Blues and the Washington Capitals.
Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
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Two Saturdays, one Friday and one Sunday: The dates for the Bayer 04 Women's team games on matchdays 16 to 19 have been finalised. Three of the four matches scheduled by the German Football Association (DFB) on Tuesday will be played at home at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium.
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Bayer 04 currently have a number of promising young talents on loan to various clubs in Europe with the aim of gaining match practice and furthering their individual development. Francis Onyeka and Farid Alfa-Ruprecht, for example, play for VfL Bochum 1848, while Artem Stepanov is a striker with 1. FC Nürnberg, coached by World Cup winner Miroslav Klose. Tim Oermann is a defender in the Austrian Bundesliga at top club SK Sturm Graz and Abdoulaye Faye is playing in France for FC Lorient, promoted to Ligue 1 this season. Bayer04.de reviews the first six months for the Leverkusen players out on loan.
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Despite a courageous display, the Bayer 04 Women missed out on a surprise at the start of the second half of the Bundesliga season. Coach Roberto Pätzold's team lost 3-0 to league leaders Bayern Munich on Monday night. An early goal from the clinical visitors, a disputed penalty and another spot-kick prevented Leverkusen, who are seventh in the table on 22 points from 14 games, from picking up a point in front of 3,011 spectators at the sold-out Ulrich Haberland Stadium.
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