They are definitely two of the key players in the team under head coach Gerardo Seoane this season: Playmaker Florian Wirtz and central defender Odilon Kossounou, who joined Leverkusen from FC Brugge in the summer of 2021.
The ability to win the ball, positional play, ball control, build-up play – the Ivory Coast international has quickly impressed at the age of just 21. His performance at the top Belgian club from Bruges plus those in a Bayer 04 shirt have earned Kossounou a place in the list of the last 40 players for the Golden Boy 2021. And he is not alone from a Black and Red perspective.
The second Werkself player in this illustrious selection is Florian Wirtz who is three years younger than his teammate and is currently causing a stir in the Bundesliga. After five matchdays, the 18-year-old has already scored three goals and provided four assists. The youngest full international in the history of Bayer 04 has more than deserved his place on the shortlist. There will be a further reduction in the list of nominations in the middle of October.
There is also good news in terms of statistics: The Werkself have made their best start to the season since 2013/14 and are the most efficient team in the Bundesliga after five matchdays. The outstanding finishing of Patrik Schick and Co. is most clearly evident looking at the xGoals, they are the goals to be expected based on the number of shots at goal and their quality. According to the xGoal calculation, the Werkself should have scored eight goals to date – but there have already been 15. No other Bundesliga side has a higher efficiency.
Two attacking players are mainly responsible for this top value: Florian Wirtz and Moussa Diaby. Wirtz has scored three goals to date, his xGoal value is however 0.7. Diaby has also scored three times and has a rating of 0.8. With the exception of Dortmund's Erling Haaland, no other Bundesliga players are more efficient.
Moussa Diaby (22), Odilon Kossounou (21), Florian Wirtz (18): They are all in the early stages of their careers. The three are however not the only ones in the Werkself squad that this statement applies to. The kicker sports paper has calculated from the first five matchdays that Bayer 04 have the second youngest team in the Bundesliga so far this term. With an average age of 24.9 years, the Werkself are just behind VfB Stuttgart (24.8)..
It's full steam ahead with preparations at the Fan House: The second fan jumble sale at the BayArena is round the corner. On Saturday, 9 October, it will be possible to acquire a wide range of Bayer 04 merchandise from ten in the morning until three in the afternoon. The special element: All proceeds go to the Leverkusen community foundation. The first gems can be checked out on the Bayer 04 fan info Facebook page.
"There will be items where you can place an offer at a certain point in time and then hope your bid is accepted," explained Sebastian Friedrich from the Bayer 04 fan liaison team. Access to the jumble sale is only possible via the North West entrance to the BayArena by the flyover.
Jan-Inge Callsen-Bracker wore the Bayer 04 shirt for ten years and the Schleswig-Holstein-born player with the unusual name made his first team debut in Leverkusen in 2003. He ended his playing career 16 years later at FC Augsburg and then took up a position on the FCA supervisory board. Callsen-Bracker is now the director of development at the German Football Association (DFB) and the former Leverkusen player today celebrates his 37th birthday – many happy returns.
Manfred Kastl also used to play for the Werkself (1988/89) and his birthday is on 23 September too. He is 56 years old. Happy birthday.
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 working 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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Bayer 04 host top French club Marseille at the BayArena on matchday four in the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League group stage. The match kicks off on Thursday 5 November at 21:00 CET. The latest information on ticket sales.
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The BAYER 04 HILFT Day is celebrating an anniversary: for the tenth year running, a large number of employees of the Bundesliga club have been getting involved in a community project in Leverkusen and the surrounding area. Following the refurbishment of the city library last year, this time around some 70 staff members rolled up their sleeves to help out at the Bunker Youth Centre in Leverkusen-Wiesdorf. With the support of the Lebenshilfe workshops in Leverkusen and partner Coca-Cola, a rubber football pitch was laid, a Bayer 04-style lounge was created and other projects were carried out. Werkself players and coaching staff also gave their all.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen and sponsors club partner NRG24 are continuing their partnership, which has been in place since the summer of 2023. The Bundesliga football club and the energy consultancy firm have extended their successful partnership until 30 June 2027.
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