The #Morethanfootball Action Weeks start today, Monday 21 March. The action weeks run up to 14 April and highlight how football clubs can live up to their social responsibility through a wide range of activities. The global project initiated by the European Football for Development Network offers participating clubs and organisations the opportunity to inform their supporters and fans about their own activities in the area of community affairs and social responsibility on and off the pitch and thereby increase awareness of the role of football within society.
The Werkself are taking part in the campaign again as was the case last year. Bayer 04 will again present a wide range of activities over the coming days. That includes in the areas of accessibility, social inclusion, sustainability and climate protection, mental health and much more. The Werkself and the Bayer 04 Women’s team will raise the profile of the action weeks at forthcoming home games.
Kicker usually only marks players in Bundesliga matches who have been on the pitch longer than 30 minutes. But the football journal made an exception in yesterday's 2-0 win for the Werkself at VfL Wolfsburg: Paulinho, who only came on as a substitute on 81 minutes, was awarded top marks for his brace. In addition, the Brazilian was named Man of the Match.
But that's not all: The Werkself forward was named Man of the Matchday. The reasoning from the management at kicker: "Just as many observers […] in Wolfsburg were coming to terms with a goalless draw given the missed chances at either end, his chance came. Paulinho demonstrated how to score goals in just eleven minutes. […] Paulinho’s double whammy – a late lesson in clinical finishing who the kicker awards, against their usual procedures and in spite of the short time on the pitch, the top mark: a 1."
Paulinho was also included in the kicker team of the matchday – as was his Leverkusen teammate Odilon Kossounou. The Ivory Coast international, who played at right back against Wolfsburg, was awarded a mark of 2.5. Both are in the kicker team of the matchday for the first time.
The Rheinische Post and the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger also both awarded the top mark of 1 to Paulinho.
Bayer 04 today remember Hans-Josef Kretschmann (1902-2002). ‘Sepp’ played for SC Charlottenburg and Preußen Duisburg. Kretschmann was the coach of a number of clubs – he was at the helm of the Black and Reds for three years from 1953 to 1956. He took the Werkself to seventh spot in 1953/54 and third in the table the following season. Kretschmann moved on to VfL Wolfsburg after relegation from the Oberliga West a year later.
Ibrahim Maza joined Bayer 04 from Hertha Berlin in the summer of 2025. The youngster from Berlin developed into a difference-maker in his first season with the Werkself. Find out what makes the highly talented player tick in this very personal interview. Among other things, Maza talks about his Algerian-Vietnamese-German home, the role of his family and the importance of Islam for him both in his private life and in football...
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Bayer 04’s Ibrahim Maza is among the three nominees for the Bundesliga’s 2025/26 Rookie of the Season award. Fans have until 23:59 CEST on Thursday, 7 May to cast their votes in the official Bundesliga app.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 4-0 win at SGS Essen on the 24th matchday of the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga 2025/26.
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The Bayer 04 Women have kept their chance of qualifying for the Champions League alive in the Bundesliga run-in. Coach Roberto Pätzold's team won 4-0 at SGS Essen on Sunday afternoon, improving their record from last season to 14 wins this term. With 43 points, the Werkself equalled another record from the 2024/25 season and at the same time reduced the gap to third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt to two points, at least for tonight. Loreen Bender (4’), Kristin Kögel (41’, 68’) and Cornelia Kramer (89’) scored for the Black and Reds, who dominated the game to record their fourth win on the bounce.
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