Thousands of cities and millions of people are taking part in the Earth Hour climate protection campaign organised by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) in 2021. Bayer 04 are once again joining in on Saturday 27 March under the motto: Switch that light out! The BayArena will be in darkness from 20.30 to 21.30 CET as will the Ostermann Arena, the Water Tower and the Town Hall Gallery, to take a joint stand for climate and environmental protection.
As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, there has been a call to avoid people gathering at the named landmarks. People can take part in the campaign from home by switching off the lights in their own four walls at the appointed hour.
The campaign started on 31 March 2007 in Sydney. It is now the biggest climate and environmental protection campaign event in the world.
Top match time at the Ulrich Stadium. The Bayer 04 Women host Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday night, 26 March. This will be a meeting of the teams fifth and seventh on matchday 16 in the FLYERALARM Women’s Bundesliga. The Werkself Women will be looking to at least maintain their eight-point lead over Frankfurt. Eurosport will broadcast the match live from Leverkusen with the kick-off at 19.15 CET.
Born in Ghana, Hans Sarpei grew up in Cologne from the age of two. He played for a number of clubs in Cologne in his youth and he finally made the step-up to professional football at the end of the 1990s at Fortuna Köln. Via MSV Duisburg and VfL Wolfsburg the left-back returned to the Rhineland in the summer of 2007 – under the Bayer Cross to be exact. Sarpei spent three years at the Werkself, making 42 Bundesliga appearances for the Black and Reds.
At the end of his playing career in 2012, the former Leverkusen player moved into the TV business with his own coaching broadcast on SPORT1 and he won one series of the dance show ‘Let’s Dance’. The 44-year-old has started a new project and is now a book author. Sarpei has written a cookbook with the title ‘Hans Sarpei’s Football Cuisine’. This is aimed at ambitious youth footballers. Sarpei says: “We want to show the connection between nutrition and performance.”
There are a few birthday greetings on this Friday: Schahriar Bigdeli, Werkself fitness coach, is 41. The four-time German champion in long jump started working for Bayer 04 in 2006 and he works closely with the head coach and his staff in looking after the fitness levels of the Werkself players.
Another birthday boy works for the Werkself: Falko Götz, who was a key player for Bayer 04 in the 1980s and a UEFA Cup winner in 1988 with the Black and Reds, is now part of the sporting management. Götz is 59 on this Friday.
The third in the group is Mike Rietpietsch, now 47 years old. Born in Eberswalde, the midfielder joined the Werkself from Union Berlin at the age of 20 in 1994. He stayed for three seasons and played 22 Bundesliga games during that time. His career took him to Fortuna Düsseldorf, VfL Bochum and Rot-Weiß Oberhausen. Bayer 04 wish the trio: Many happy returns!
The second friendly and the first goal for the Bayer 04 Women: The Werkself just missed out on their first win in the preseason away to top-flight Dutch side PEC Zwolle. The team led by coach Roberto Pätzold drew 1-1 on Friday afternoon in Wezep. As with the friendly against TSG Hoffenheim (0-2) a number of first-team players were absent. The coach once again shared out time on the pitch for the 20-player squad. The goal of the match was scored by summer signing Vanessa Fudalla (67').
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Continuity under the Cross: After the successful season in 2024/25 with reaching the final of the VBL Club Championship, the two Leverkusen e-sports players Marc and Sean Landwehr have extended their contracts at Bayer 04 by an additional two years. Marc is thereby in his sixth year and Sean in his third year with the Werkself. Together with e-talent Marcus Hüttemann, who has also extended his stay at Bayer 04 Bayer year, completes the current squad for the 2025/26 season.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have signed centre forward Christian Kofane. The 18-year-old Cameroonian joins Leverkusen from Spanish second tier club Albacete on a contract to 30 June 2029.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen will wear the new away kit for the 2025/26 season at the start of the training camp in Brazil. In conscious contrast to the international aspect of this year's training camp in Rio de Janeiro, kit supplier New Balance has designed a jersey for the Werkself players and all other Bayer 04 teams with distinct links to home.
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