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.”
The FIFA World Cup 2026 in the USA, Canada and Mexico is underway. A total of eight Leverkusen players are taking part in the 23rd World Cup, with 48 teams in the tournament for the first time. Bayer04.de brings you all the latest from Werkself players at the World Cup.
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A goal-fest to kick off the U19 European Championship in Wales: Germany defeated Denmark 4–3 in their first Group A fixture. Both Montrell Culbreath and captain Francis Onyeka were in the starting line-up, with the latter scoring the first goal of the game from the penalty spot on five minutes.
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Bayer 04 have transferred U19 midfielder Emmanuel Chigozie Owen to FC Utrecht in the Eredivisie.
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Renovation work has been underway at the BayArena for several weeks now as part of the stadium’s routine refurbishment after 17 years. More and more of the new folding seats – which, from next season, will provide significantly greater comfort and make it easier to move between rows – have now been installed. The new high-quality seats have now been fitted throughout the entire east stand, giving the BayArena a new lease of life.
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