Before the start of the season, Charles Aránguiz took over the captain’s armband from Lars Bender, who gave up the role after five years. Peter Bosz has opted for a defensive duo as the vice-captains for the Chilean as the 56-year-old announced on Thursday night at the press conference after the 6-2 victory over Nice in the Europa League. Lars or Sven Bender will captain the team this season if the South America midfielder is unavailable. That happened in the second half at Mainz (1-0) and against Nice. For those 135 minutes, the armband was again worn by Lars, the older twin brother by a few minutes.
The Werkself team committee this season is made up of six players. The skipper and his two vice-captains are joined by experienced player Julian Baumgartlinger, Germany international Jonathan Tah and Wendell.
The 6-2 scoreline against Nice was not only a more than successful start to the new Europa League campaign but also the biggest win for Bayer 04 on the European stage. “I’m happy with the result,” said Bosz. Moreover: The Werkself are now unbeaten in 13 European games at the BayArena. And hopefully that will continue on 26 November against Hapoel Be’er Sheva – the Israelis sprang a surprise with their 3-1 win against Slavia Prague in their opening game on Thursday night.
As usual, UEFA published their top team of the Europa League matchday on Friday afternoon. In addition to Hoffenheim’s Christoph Baumgartner, who opened the scoring in the 2-0 win for TSG against Red Star Belgrade, UEFA also chose two Leverkusen players: Nadiem Amiri and Karim Bellarabi. Congratulations lads - you deserved it!
Daniel Schwaab played as a defender for the Werkself for four years and in his four seasons at Leverkusen (2009 to 2013) he made almost 100 Bundesliga appearances for Bayer 04. After his time under the Bayer Cross, the Waldkirchen-born joined VfB Stuttgart and then moved on to PSV Eindhoven where he played up to the summer. Schwaab has now decided to hang up his boots at the age of 32. “I’ve decided to stop because I want to dedicate myself to new challenges,” said the defender to kicker.
The German Football Association (DFB) wants to provide more transparency with refereeing decisions in the Bundesliga via a Twitter account. From the next matchday, information on intervention by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) will be published on Twitter at @dfbschiris. This is intended to enable “faster and better understanding of individual decisions.”
High spirits and previously untold stories: Around 100 Bayer 04 fans packed the Schwadbud fan pub in the east stand of the BayArena on Thursday evening to be there in person for the first instalment of the new series of events entitled “Rudi lädt ein” (Rudi invites you). They listened intently as long-serving Werkself players Gonzalo Castro and Stefan Kießling chatted with record appearance-maker Rüdiger Vollborn and presenter and stadium announcer Tobias Ufer about their many years together at the club, shared amusing anecdotes and revealed dressing room secrets. Anyone who missed the premiere can already look forward to the second instalment – on 12 May, Rudi will be testing the expert knowledge of Bayer 04 fans during a quiz night.
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The Bundesliga home game against VfL Wolfsburg in the first half of the season was one of those classic ‘days to forget’ for Bayer 04 Women. It started with goalkeeper Charlotte Voll being shown a red card in the first minute of the game, and following a further sending-off, coach Roberto Pätzold's 9-women side ended up losing 5-1 to last season's runners-up. At 18.30 CET on Sunday, they'll have the chance to exact revenge at the AOK Stadium - and pick up valuable points in the race for third place.
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Sofie Zdebel is up for the Goal of the Month award for February on ARD-Sportschau. Fans have until 21 March (19:00 CET) to vote for the Germany U23 international's volley to make it 2-0 in the Bayer 04 Women's derby against FC Köln (2-1).
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen are further expanding their partner network: The feed manufacturer PerNaturam is an official sponsor of the Bayer 04 Womens team. The partnership opens up a wide range of opportunities for the company to position its brand in the Bundesliga environment.
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Do you dream of wearing the Bayer cross on your chest? To play in black and red like your role models Loreen Bender, Cornelia Kramer, Kristin Kögel and co. from the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga? Then take your chance now! Our female youth teams are once again on the lookout for new talent. That's why Bayer 04 are organising a talent day on 12 April 2026 for the first time this year with trials for female juniors.
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