As usual, the pre-season starts with performance tests at the Werkstatt facility at the BayArena on Thursday and Friday, 5 and 6 July from 08.00 CET. While the tests are held behind closed doors, Werkself fans will have the chance to see their team on the training ground after the summer break. When the squad return to the training ground at 11.00 CET on Saturday 7 July, it will be the first run-out for new signings Lukas Hradecky, Mitchell Weiser and Thorsten Kirschbaum. The Brazilian Paulinho will join his team-mates on 15 July. The two players at World Cup, Tin Jedvaj, who is with Croatia for the quarter-final against Russia on Saturday, and Julian Brandt, on a well-deserved holiday after Germany's exit, will be at the training camp in Zell am See-Kaprun at the end of the month.
The Bayer 04 players will soon be back in the saddle after the return to work: Heiko Herrlich has organised a three-day 'training camp' on bikes for his players – definitely with one eye on focusing his group on the targets for the season ahead. The Werkself team start in Bad Bertrich and will complete the 200 kilometre ride back to Leverkusen in three stages: On Sunday 8 July from Bad Bertrich to Koblenz, on Monday from Koblenz to Bonn and finally, on Tuesday 10 July, the last leg from Bonn to the BayArena. That is followed by two days off on Wednesday and Thursday, 11 and 12 July, before an open training session back home at 16.00 CET on Friday 13 July.
Former Bundesliga and Germany keeper Manfred Manglitz, who was promoted to the Oberliga West with Bayer 04 in 1962, passed away on Monday at the age of 86.
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Justine Brandau and Lobke Loonen joined the Bayer 04 Women’s squad in quick succession this summer. The two Dutch players have been friends since their youth days, and are now playing for the same club for the first time. In an interview at the training camp in Rieden, Brandau and Loonen talk, amongst other things, about their experiences as opponents in the Vrouwen Eredivisie, the dynamic within their new team and their first few weeks in Leverkusen.
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The Werkself fixture list for the 2026/27 season in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga has been finalised. To kick off the season, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team travel to RB Leipzig between 21 and 24 August. The fixtures were announced by the German Football Association (DFB) on Thursday morning. The season will conclude with a home match on 23 May 2027 against newly promoted side Mainz 05.
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On Wednesday evening, Monheim City Council voted against a planning resolution for the Bayer 04 Campus on Alfred-Nobel-Straße in Monheim in a secret ballot, with 19 votes in favour, 25 against and one abstention. The legal status of the project therefore remains unchanged.
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