“I feel incredibly at home at this club. When I came to Leverkusen as a young player in 2015, I had the best conditions to develop and become the player I am today. I was able to play in Europe early on in my career with Bayer 04 and also found my way into the national team,” Tah said on extending his deal. “We always had good players, but right now I have the feeling something is developing in Leverkusen. I believe in this team, in this club and see a chance for us to achieve something extraordinary.”
Sporting director Simon Rolfes described Tah’s contract extension as “an important setting of course for a successful future. Jonathan has developed from a talented youngster into a seasoned leader with us. He doesn’t just have a role of responsibility on the pitch, but his word also carries weight off it. Jonathan is multi-talented and very reflective. He can serve as a good example to many of our young players of what it means to become a professional.”
Managing director for sport Rudi Völler considers Tah’s resilience and ambition to be special qualities of the 1.95m defender, in addition to his footballing ability. “After an extremely impressive and consistent start in the Bundesliga, Jonathan has never let isolated setbacks get him down. That’s what sets him apart. Instead, he fought all the more and faced every challenge,” Völler said. “This attitude is exemplary. Jonathan is someone who leads from the front with confidence and who absolutely identifies with Bayer 04 Leverkusen.”
This special event showed once again how strong Bayer 04 are as a team: As part of ‘BarmeniaGothaer gives joy’, the Werkself players Edmond Tapsoba, Ibrahim Maza and Christian Kofane supported the sale of individually designed T-shirts for a good cause at the Fanwelt on Thursday. Several hundred fans came to take part in the charity campaign. Leverkusen's main sponsor BarmeniaGothaer donated the proceeds to the Fondation Edmond Tapsoba, which helps people in Tapsoba's home country of Burkina Faso in their challenging everyday lives.
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With three games to play before the end of the season, the Bayer 04 Women can break one record and equal another at SGS Essen. After three wins on the bounce, coach Roberto Pätzold's team are aiming to maintain the chance of third place in Sunday’s away game (14:00 CEST, Stadion an der Hafenstraße).
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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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From Ouagadougou to Leverkusen – and back: in March, Bayer 04 travelled with Edmond Tapsoba for a special project in his homeland Burkina Faso. The country where his roots and heart lie. The country where he’s more than a world-class defender: a symbol of hope and a role model for an entire generation. The result is a 45-minute documentary about Tapsoba’s long journey from Africa via Portugal to Leverkusen, which offers extraordinary, one-off and emotional insights.
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Edmond Tapsoba has signed an early extension to his contract with Bayer 04 Leverkusen. With two years left on his current deal, the 27-year-old Burkina Faso international has extended his contract until 30 June 2031. The centre-back joined as a young talent from Portuguese top-flight club Vitoria Guimaraes at the start of 2020.
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