
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.

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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The Werkself began 2026 with defeat, losing 4-1 at home to VfB Stuttgart on Matchday 16 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga. Jamie Leweling opened the scoring early, with Maximilian Mittelstädt making it 2-0 from a penalty before Leweling again and Deniz Undav increased the lead to 4-0 just before half-time. Alejandro Grimaldo's penalty reduced the deficit midway through the second period.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen has gained a new partner in digital gaming platform Crown Coins, which joins the Bundesliga runners-up's Sponsors Club with immediate effect. The one-and-a-half-year contract runs until 30 June 2027.
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The Werkself host VfB Stuttgart this evening (10 January, 18:30 CET), a side whose recent Bundesliga form has been indifferent but who have regularly produced top performances in the DFB Pokal and UEFA Europa League, and who have a key player back in the squad in striker Ermedin Demirovic. Off the pitch, the BayArena faithful will be able to see the remaining stoppage time live on the video screens. The Matchday News.
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