Hannes Wolf welcomed 21 players to his first session in Bayer 04 kit. In addition to Niklas Lomb, the U19 goalkeepers Marcel Johnen and Jakob Brambach donned their gloves as well. Lukas Hradecky trained separately following his Achilles injury and Lennart Grill is set to play for Germany on Wednesday night against Hungary in the U21 European Championship (kick-off: 21.00 CET/ProSieben).
Also on board under clear blue skies were Emrehan Gedikli, Cem Türkmen and Samed Onur plus the U19 players Yannick Schlösser and Achunike-Elijah Ekene. Recently injured players Paulinho and Sven Bender completed large parts of the session. After the warm-up routine, the Werkself players completed passing drills under the guidance of assistant coach and Bayer 04 stalwart Peter Hermann. The 69-year-old directed operations, issued instructions and gave advice – as he has always done in his long career.
Then it became more intensive: In a restricted space, outnumbered situations were created where goalscoring opportunities had to be battled for. Under the eyes of Fernando Carro, chairman of the board, and sporting director Simon Rolfes, Wolf interrupted proceedings a number of times to give players instructions. "We have so much pace in the team, we have to use it," was just one of the many messages from the 39-year-old.
While Charles Aránguiz and Co worked with the fitness coaches at the end of the session, Wolf's assistant Hermann gathered together the youngest players. He led passing and shooting practice with the five U19 outfield players plus goalkeepers Johnen and Brambach. At exactly 12.30 CET, Wolf, Hermann, Miguel Moreira and Co. left the training ground together after the first session was completed.
Wolf will hold his next session on Thursday with his first match as Werkself head coach coming up on Easter Saturday, 3 April (kick-off: 15.30 CEST) when bottom of the table Schalke 04 visit the BayArena. In the clash with the Royal Blues there should be a similar approach as in the first training session led by new coach Wolf.
Video game producer Electronic Arts (EA) has announced the nominees for the Men's and Women's Team of the Year (TOTY) for EA Sports FC 26. With Patrik Schick and Alejandro Grimaldo for the men and Vanessa Fudalla for the women, there are three Bayer 04 players included. Fans of the Black-and-Reds can vote for each top XI of 2025 from now until 18:59 CET on Monday 12 January.
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The Werkself host Mainz at the BayArena on matchday 24 in the 2025/26 Bundesliga season. The match is on Saturday, 28 February, at 15:30 CET. Information on ticket sales.
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The long-standing successful collaboration between Bayer 04 and the transport service provider wupsi GmbH has been expanded: From January 2026, 100 wupsi bikes with Bayer 04 branding will be available for hire throughout the city of Leverkusen. They will complement the many existing offers and services that provide key support, especially for fans travelling to and from home matches at the BayArena.
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The Werkself are back! Following the two-week winter break, head coach Kasper Hjulmand's team began the new year with an open session on Sunday. After Robert Andrich and his teammates arrived in Leverkusen yesterday for the official check-in, they got back down to business a day later in front of around 1,200 fans at the Ulrich Haberland Stadion. The report from the Werkself's first session of 2026.
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