The match will be played behind closed doors due to the coronavirus pandemic. Werkself fans do have the chance to watch the game live. The only external friendly before the start of the season will be broadcast on Bayer 04 TV at bayer04.de and on the club’s YouTube channel.
The Werkself returned to full training on Monday morning. While the international players are on the road with their national teams, the Leverkusen players left at home face a first challenge in the clash with the Belgian side. Anderlecht are already up to speed in terms of match practice as the league started at the beginning of August. The results for the team currently eighth in the table: one win, three draws.
The 2019/20 season was abandoned after matchday 29 due to the coronavirus pandemic. RSC Anderlecht, with Vincent Kompany as player-manager, are currently eighth in the table five points behind Standard Liege who are in the qualifiers for the Europa League this term.
The most famous representative of the club from Brussels is the manager. Vincent Kompany took the helm at his former club in the summer. After coming through the youth ranks at RSC, he stepped up to the senior squad at the Violet and Whites in 2003. The central defender decided to move on to Hamburg SV three years later and then he played for Manchester City for eleven years becoming a massive club legend. Kompany was player-manager at RSC last season. The 34-year-old became head coach in the summer.
Anderlecht are one of the top clubs in Belgium in terms of youth development. Romelu Lukaku, Dries Mertens and many more came through the youth teams at the 34-time Belgian champions. With players like Albert Sambi Lokonga (20) and Jérémy Doku (18), the next generation of top talents are ready and waiting.
Strengthening the Bayer 04 Leverkusen youth teams: Konstantinos Kotsifakis will join the Werkself from Bundesliga 2 club Hertha Berlin for the 2026/27 season, where he will be a permanent member of the Leverkusen U19 coaching set-up. The German-Greek will also take on an operational role in coaching the Bayer 04 Future Team. The 29-year-old was most recently head coach of the U17s at Hertha Berlin.
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Another award for the Bayer 04 head groundsman and staff: After coming top in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, the BayArena pitch came second in the Bundesliga Pitch of the Year ranking for the 2025/26 season. VfL Wolfsburg secured the top spot this year, with TSG Hoffenheim in third place.
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Opening opponents, derby weekends, the opponents in the season finale: This information and more will be available to Bayer 04 fans on Thursday, 2 July, when the 2026/27 Bundesliga fixture list is published.
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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 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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