After Sunday's 1-0 victory in the friendly against Al-Wahda Mecca at the end of the training camp, Wednesday marks the start of the final run-in of the pre-season: The final challenge before the first competitive match of the season in the DFB Cup away to Pforzheim in eleven days (18 August, 15.30 CET) is a friendly against the Spanish top-flight club Valencia on Saturday (21.30 CET). Heiko Herrlich now has another two players available: World Cup runner-up Tin Jedvaj plus new signing Isaac Kiese Thelin, whose loan signing was announced on Tuesday afternoon. The duo, plus latecomer Paulinho, completed the obligatory performance tests in the gym at the BayArena in the morning, which included a wide range of assessments. "I'm very happy to be back here and can hardly wait to kick a ball again," said Jedvaj, who was granted an extended holiday by Heiko Herrlich after his participation in the World Cup final in Russia.
After the intensive World Cup with an historic runners-up spot for Croatia, he certainly felt the benefit of the break. "I enjoyed every second. Now it's a question of getting up to the physical level of the others as soon as possible and having a good season," said the 22-year-old Croat who now has the date of the World Cup final on his upper arm. In tomorrow's session (16.30 CET), Jedvaj returns to the Werkself training ground for the first time in three months.
The Werkstatt was not only busy because of the performance tests. Long-term injury Joel Pohjanpalo plus Charles Aránguiz (knee) and Panos Retsos (thigh) met up on the third upper floor at the BayArena for treatment and/or to complete their individual programmes. That also applied to Lukas Hradecky – albeit on the pitch. As he did in Zell am See, the new Werkself number one wore a lacrosse mask on the pitch as he worked on his comeback with goalkeeping coach David Thiel.
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 working 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 personal 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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Bayer 04 host top French club Marseille at the BayArena on matchday four in the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League group stage. The match kicks off on Thursday 5 November at 21:00 CET. The latest information on ticket sales.
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The BAYER 04 HILFT Day is celebrating an anniversary: for the tenth year running, a large number of employees of the Bundesliga club have been getting involved in a community project in Leverkusen and the surrounding area. Following the refurbishment of the city library last year, this time around some 70 staff members rolled up their sleeves to help out at the Bunker Youth Centre in Leverkusen-Wiesdorf. With the support of the Lebenshilfe workshops in Leverkusen and partner Coca-Cola, a rubber football pitch was laid, a Bayer 04-style lounge was created and other projects were carried out. Werkself players and coaching staff also gave their all.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen and sponsors club partner NRG24 are continuing their partnership, which has been in place since the summer of 2023. The Bundesliga football club and the energy consultancy firm have extended their successful partnership until 30 June 2027.
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