The Werkself skipper will present his opposite number from Leipzig with a basket of fruit ahead of kick-off. Before that, six members of the Lions Club will hold a banner with the campaign motto '#FitvormTor' ('Fit in front of goal') as the teams come onto the pitch. Furthermore, the BayArena catering will provide a discount on the popular 'Bulgur Cup' on Saturday.
Away from the campaign matchday, Bayer 04 place great value on the subject of health and diet particular with regard to children and teenagers. In addition to the various, age-related campaigns of the 'Bayer 04 goes to school' project, the club is also committed to providing regular exercise opportunities for youngsters – whether that's every day ('Dance shoes for your kindergarten') or at home games (e.g. the Werkslöwenpass for the concourse at the BayArena). On top of that, Bayer 04 organise a range of events to make the issue of health and diet for young and old more attractive: For the youngest there are regular physical activity offers including training like the Werkself or training with the patrons (as at the end of March with Dominick Kohr and the Lion Club kids). There are also constant health-related offers for older fans such as cooking lessons, 'football fans in training' for overweight men and women or walking football sessions for the Silver Lions.
Bayer 04 have other activities planned to raise the profile of the subject of health and diet in the future.
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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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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With their wonderful goals, Martin Terrier and Florian Wirtz are up for the Bundesliga Goal of the Year 2025. Voting for fans will run exclusively via the official Bundesliga app until Sunday, 4 January.
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The ‘year after’ the most successful year in the club's history brought many changes at Bayer 04. In an exclusive double interview with bayer04.de shortly before the Christmas break, Fernando Carro and Simon Rolfes spoke about building a new team capable of winning trophies, the work of coach Kasper Hjulmand, the young new signings who have quickly developed into key players, and their personal plans for the Christmas holidays. Their outlook for the coming year also shows that the potential is far from exhausted and ambitions remain high.
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Last-minute ecstasy, huge disappointment and a historic performance on the European stage - 2025 was a real emotional roller coaster, especially for the U19s. A rousing run in the knockout phase secured the team a place in the final of the German championships, where they lost by the narrowest of margins. Despite the departure of several key players, the young Werkself team quickly regained their usual strength and qualified for the knockout rounds in the UEFA Youth League for the first time at the end of the year. In 2025, youngsters Jeremiah Mensah and Montrell Culbreath made their debuts in the Bundesliga, the DFB Pokal and the UEFA Champions League. The other youth teams also contributed great performances and a number of trophies to the collective Black and Red success, while the successful Bayer 04 Future Kids project broke new ground. Read on for the 2025 review of the youth teams.
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