
Kießling, who ended his playing career with Bayer 04 in the summer, will take up the post created for him by Rudi Völler providing support to the sporting management and other departments at the club.
This will be the start of a second career at the Werkself for the 34-year-old who made 444 appearances and scored 162 goals for the Black and Reds between 2006 and 2018. "I'm really looking forward to the new job and working in close cooperation with Rudi Völler," said Kießling. "It's extremely exciting to get to know another side of football now."
For Völler, the culmination of the long-held ambition of the Leverkusen hero to embark on a career in club management is, "a good day for us. Hardly anybody else embodies the absolute identification with Bayer 04 more than Stefan Kießling," declared the 1990 World Cup winner. "He'll really get stuck into the job just like he did as player."


The fixture details for the Bayer 04 Women’s first match in the 2026/27 DFB Pokal has been confirmed: As announced by the German Football Association (DFB) on Thursday morning, the Leverkusen Women will face second-tier side FC Viktoria Berlin in the first round on Sunday 27 September at 14:00 CEST.
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Once again, well over 100 Werkself fans were delighted to receive an invitation from the club’s record appearance-maker, Rüdiger Vollborn, to the sold-out Schwadbud at the BayArena. This time, the supporters listened as the club historian provided fascinating, exclusive insights into the period from Bayer 04 being founded in 1904 to the club’s promotion to the Bundesliga in 1979. A journey through time is also planned for the upcoming ‘Rudi lädt ein’ event in early November – this time focusing on the years of the Nazi regime.
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Getting in the mood for the new season together, exchanging ideas and looking ahead to the coming months: Bayer 04 welcomed partners to the BayArena for the annual sponsors season-launch event. In a relaxed atmosphere, the management, head coach and players came together with representatives from partner companies to celebrate the start of the 2026/27 season.
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Happy children’s faces at the SSV Lützenkirchen training ground: For the 25th time, the Birkenberg soccer school – organised by SportBund Leverkusen – offered participating youngsters an exciting holiday activity. Meeting a Bayer 04 player has now become a cherished tradition. This time, Ibrahim Maza visited the 150 children and spoke to them about his World Cup experiences, amongst other things. “It’s always lovely to see the children’s enthusiasm for football,” said the 20-year-old, after bringing a sparkle to many eyes with selfies and autographs.
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